This salad is so easy to make and with the addition of Basil Pesto certainly adds to the flavour. Use your favourite steak, we went with rump, certainly value for money and tenderising it with the rolling pin certainly does the trick.

As business origin stories go, Tracy and Joachim van Oostrum the couple behind LOVE IN A JEWEL, have a pretty good one. Long before they started their keepsake jewellery design business it was jewellery that brought them together.

Not much phases Olivia Waldron. At just 25 years old, the bubbly South Cantabrian has already completed a degree, travelled the world, started her career, joined the emergency response team at work, become a group fitness instructor and, most recently, become a qualified firefighter with the St Andrew’s Volunteer Fire Brigade.

When Rebecca Smith first moved into her two-storey, brick house in Timaru 10 years ago, it was “one blank and beige canvas to stamp my mark on.” Embracing her love of all things retro she soon transformed it into a swirling carnival of colours, patterns and textures.

It all started with a 1967 Mustang for Michelle Cahill, who won the Best Dressed title at last year’s Caroline Bay Rock & Hop.

For Danny Bisschop, a chance encounter at the traffic lights as a boy sparked his life-long love of cars. “I was sitting in my parents’ car when I was about 10 years old,” recalls Danny, now 70. “I saw a 1933 Ford Coupe pull up at the lights and that was it! From that point on I’ve been crazy about hot rods.”

On a late summer morning looking out over a garden with rambling roses, vigorous vines and established trees – it’s hard to imagine that seven years ago this was a bare paddock. But that’s exactly what it was says homeowner Sue Heazlewood.

Volunteer fire fighter, Assina Dalglish, has attended her fair share of significant call outs in the past three years, including the Loburn and Swannanoa fires in January as well as car accidents, natural disasters and medical events.

Many of us work from home at some point, whether it’s a day a week or full-time. We might spread out on the corner of the kitchen table or take our laptop to the spare bedroom. But architectural designer, Josh Newlove, has created a home office that ticks all the boxes – great views of Mt Peel, close to the house, but far enough away to avoid disturbances.

Turn off the highway to Waikuku Beach and there’s an instant holiday vibe in the air. Perhaps it’s the sea air and the picnicking families. Or the fish and chips and the beautiful views over the lagoon.