Southern images: February 4-9, 2013

CAMPBELL ISLAND: The Otago at South Port.

WEST COAST: The Taupo at South Port in Bluff.

FLAMING FIREWORKS: Te Anau firefighters arrive at the scene of a scrub fire, believed to have been started by fireworks, close to the upper Waiau River.

WELCOME: Sergeant Phil Berryman, of Invercargill police youth services, will be manning the Blue Light barbecue at the Invercargill police station open day.

SCIENCE UP CLOSE: Sacred Heart School pupil Justin McLean, 10, takes a closer look at leaves and insects as part of the school's science week activities.

FICTION AND FLOWERS: Bluff Promotions chairman Roy Horwell sets up some of the books ahead of the fundraising book sale. The book sale will be held in conjunction with the Lands End Garden Club Flower Show at the Bluff Town Hall.

SADDLE UP: Southland teenager Wade Marshall is competing in the Mataura and Southland rodeos along with about 250 other cowboys and cowgirls.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Ascot Community School cultural group members, from left, Ella Chapman, 6, Emily Hansen, 10, and Rico Wairau-Taetuli, 6, practise for the P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A. annual meeting and conference.

POSITIVE FEEDBACK: Age Concern Southland manager Janette Turner is relieved this year’s Southland directory will be easier to read. Yellow, the company responsible for the phone books, said that it was returning to the larger font size.

TOP MARKS: La Muse dance students, from left, Bella Robert, 12, Breyah Takitimu, 8, Bridgette Pink, 17, and Danye Takitimu, 6, scored top marks in New Zealand in their jazz exams.

BACK ON SHOW: A crane lifts Gore’s famous Gold Guitar on to its permanent stand at the Gore Country Music Club’s clubrooms at the Longford Function Centre.

AT WORK: Janet Macrae shows off a handmade lace wedding handkerchief. This one is for her niece. Previous recipients have been royal brides Camilla and Kate.

SWEET TOOTHS: Salvation Army Foodbank co-ordinator Brenda King sorts out jars donated for jam made by prisoners.

WAITANGI DAY: Kereama Tito performs during Waitangi Day celebrations at Sandy Point.

WAITANGI DAY: Karen Bickley throws lollies to the kids at Waitangi Day celebrations at the Riverton Sound Shell.

WAITANGI DAY: Karina Davis-Marsden, left, Tracey Wright-Tawha, Dave Taylor, Riki Dallas, Karen Duncan and Lorrain Dallas have a go on the new waka, which will be available for all Southland and Wakatipu groups to use, and which was launched on Oreti River.

WAITANGI DAY: Tamanui Makaore, right, leads about 50 people in a mass haka at Sandy Point, near Invercargill. The Southlanders were among hundreds of people from around New Zealand who performed the haka on Waitangi Day in a bid to get the issue of suicide into the spotlight.

PLATINUM WATCH: Darren Tweedie and Harry Sapwell, both 13, check out the Platinum superyacht, which berthed at Bluff after a visit to Fiordland. The 38-metre yacht from Fremantle, Western Australia, arrived just after the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior and drew people to the other side of the harbour for a look.

MILESTONE MARKED: Southland woman Sarah Dore who celebrated her 100th birthday at the Rowena Jackson Retirement Village.

HEAVY LIFTING: Helicopter Line Fiordland ground crew member Lewis King and Terry White from TSK White Ltd prepare to fill a bucket with gravel that will be spread on the Mores Scenic Reserve walking tracks in Riverton.

GOING WITH THE FLOW: Cullen Thompson, 12, checks out Riverton’s water. Riverton residents have voted with their tastebuds to change the source of the town’s tap water.

SCOUTING THE SCHOONER: Bluff Sea Scouts visit the Rainbow Warrior, which called into Bluff.

COOL CARVING: Auckland ice sculptor Victor Cagayat with his latest creation, a 2-metre serpent celebrating the coming of the Chinese year of the snake in Queenstown.

COME AND ENJOY: Invercargill City Council communications manager Eirwen Harris, at the Japanese Gardens in Queens Park, is urging city residents to enjoy free public events on February 15, including a rugby match, to mark the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Invercargill-Kumagaya sister-city relationship.

SAFE LANDS: A digger gets stuck into work on routine maintenance at Invercargill Airport. Airport general manager Chloe Scala said maintenance had been carried out on the tarmac in the past two weeks, and would continue for eight or nine more days, depending on the weather. Operations had not been affected by the work.

FUN TIME: Future scientists Steven Robbie, 18, of James Hargest College, and Rachel Taylor, 17, of Menzies College.

FAMILY MATTERS: Ihaia Te Wiki, left, and Metua Herbert, both 12, practise with a group at Number 10 for a mass haka, organised to raise awareness of suicide prevention.

LACING UP: Shane and Aniva Ripley and their children, from left, Jakeb, 6, Kaleb, 8, and Melody, 10, get ready for the Surf to City.

EXCITED: Taramea Bay Soundshell Trust secretary Cazna Gilder is hoping the 10th annual Waitangi Day celebrations will draw even more people to Riverton this year.

WATCH THAT PUDDLE: Te Anau resident Yuka Stevenson walks her children Asha, 9, left, 9, and Riyanna, 6, to school in the rain.

SWEET OFFERINGS: Salvation Army court and prison officer Bruce Heather with some of the jars of apricot jam made by Invercargill Prison inmates.

NO VEGES PLEASE, WE’RE CARNIVORES: Invercargill’s Lonestar Cowboy league players Nathan Anderson, left, obscured, Aaron Carson and Dan Clarke take part in an eating contest organised by Mighty Meats butchery and The Rock radio station. About 15 people tested their eating prowess by downing a massive meat slab, constructed of beef patties, steaks and sausages between stacked slices of bread, as quickly as they could. All the contestants managed to keep the sandwich down.PRECARIOUS PERCH: Jair Ramirez, of Wellington-based Campground Chaos, performs at the Buskers Festival in Queens Park.

MAD ABOUT MOTORING: Car enthusiasts, from left, Thelma Wright, of Christchurch, Helen Spain, of Invercargill, and their husbands, Selwyn Wright and Graeme Spain, with Mr Wright’s 1916 Dodge 4.

SET TO STEAM: Fitting a dampener system to the Kingston Flyer locomotive’s exhaust smokestack are, from left, Josh Zajowskowski, obscured, Davey Bryce and Cameron Persson. The idea for the steam condensation bypass valve to dampen live embers came from a mystery comment left by a reader of a Southland Times web article about a fire that had been sparked by the locomotive.

ART APPRECIATION: Leona McCracken, of Te Anau, left, Coke McCracken, of Te Wae Wae Bay, and Kim Sutherland, of Invercargill, view artwork by Pip Egerton, at the Waiau Art Trail.

VERY LATEST: Lert Info director Stuart Gunn checks out the latest alerts on his cellphone.

PHYSICAL EXERCISE: Triss Fyfe, 89, in the Easy Combo Aerobics Class at the YMCA. They may be aged in their 80s but they are not slowing down.

WORKING OUT: YMCA Instructor Lucy Laverty leads the Easy Combo aerobics class a the YMCA. They may be aged in their 80s but they are not slowing down.