The Malcolm Flowers Taupō Winter Festival is in full swing with Taupō’s very own fire artists adding to a spectacular opening evening.

Chill air and a heavy frost heralded a new era for Tauhara College last week as the college’s first new block in a major rebuild opened with a dawn ceremony.

After a brief round of consultations, Taupō District Council has decided which amalgamation options it will look into further.

Six riders from the Taupō BMX Club are heading to Brisbane, Australia, to compete at the UCI BMX Racing World Championships from 17–24 July at Sleeman BMX — one of the largest contingents the club has sent to the event in recent years.

More than 600 school students have taken part in one of the biggest orienteering events ever held in New Zealand.

Conservationist Neville Parminter has kindly offered to profile some of the birds that he finds living in the Taupō area. This week he focuses on Dabchicks, or Poliocephalus rufopectus.