An Otago student who nearly died after swallowing his own vomit during a drinking game is among examples being used to put students off such practices.

Unsuspecting Dunedin pensioners have been duped of their cash by a young female hustler with a toddler.

A woman bit the top off another woman's little finger and spat it out during a drunken argument, a court has been told.

Black ice in the Manuka Gorge left John Nicholl and his family shaken after his car spun out of control and ended up in a roadside ditch.

Beware my flock of sheep. An unusual threat has been made by a Dunedin man who says he'll unleash woolly revenge in the Octagon unless he gets his way.

Brighton residents occupying a planned 2degrees cellphone tower site face a standoff with the company after the Dunedin City Council ruled out issuing a trespass notice against them.

Injured and intoxicated revellers from the Illuminate Paint Party made a busy night worse for emergency department staff at Dunedin Hospital.

A man escaped with minor injuries after the Fulton Hogan truck he was driving rolled 50m down a bank into a Brighton creek near Dunedin yesterday.

A disqualified driver, already on bail on other driving charges, stole a funeral director's truck with five empty caskets on the back, Dunedin District Court was told yesterday.

Many of the landmarks of the fabled Dunedin Sound of the 1980s can be visited on a relatively short and intriguing walk.

A holiday wildlife tour ended in hypothermia for four young women kayaking near Taiaroa Head, in Otago, yesterday.

Fire safety officers are investigating the cause of a Dunedin house fire in which a dog died yesterday.

Dunedin's reputation with cruise lines is among the world's worst, and behind the soured image are badly behaved tour operators, Cruise New Zealand says.

A Dunedin woman was tight-lipped when she rang 111, after mistakenly gluing her lips together.

The woman behind a controversial $100 million waterfront hotel bid in Dunedin says she will compromise to secure a deal with the Dunedin City Council.

The man convicted of the manslaughter of a Dunedin man in an inner-city McDonalds two years ago is due to be released from prison.

The company bidding to build a $100 million waterfront hotel in Dunedin is taking its fight to the Environment Court.

New Zealand Police say protocol was responsible for the delay in notifying a Dunedin mother of the death of her Dunedin-born son in a Thai apartment complex.

Blanket Bay resident Polly Mustard thought she had prepared for the worst when she parked her car down the road from her house to make sure she could get to work on time in case forecast snow blocked her driveway.

Rueben Skipper was bodyboarding barrel after barrel at Aramoana last Thursday afternoon when suddenly "there was no more water - just sand".

A man who told police he thought "lamb chops on the barbecue would be nice" has been convicted of wilfully ill-treating two sheep he killed at a farm on Christmas Day.

A Dunedin woman had a narrow escape when a landslip trapped her inside her home and brought a tree down on her car.

The family of a Dunedin man found dead in a Thai apartment complex are distraught and angry they learnt of his death through media reports rather than police.

Finding a 10-year-old girl in the back seat of a car driven by a woman who recorded a breath-alcohol level nearly three times the limit has dismayed and disappointed Dunedin police.

Sinkholes at the Esplanade at St Clair will be filled with gravel as concern builds about high tides expected later this week.

'Sort it out yourself' 88-year-old Len Hesford was told by his local DHB after he was billed for home help he was entitled to for free.

Bleak weather and a move to Dunedin's Middle Beach failed to dampen the spirits of swimmers at the annual Polar Plunge yesterday.

The call for last drinks at the Cook tonight will come after a long history of serving University of Otago staff and students.