There was a record downpour in Auckland, a tornado in Taranaki and "quake lights" above Wellington. Oh, and 2016 was likely also New Zealand's hottest year on record.

A bad weather forecast has scuppered the historic Dunedin visit of mega-cruise ship the Ovation of the Seas on Thursday.

Rescuers say it's fortunate there wasn't a double fatality after two climbers fell 200m at Mt Aspiring.

A van and truck carrying a house collided on SH1 near Clinton this afternoon.

Police are seeking witnesses after a woman was indecently assaulted in Queenstown about 4am on Sunday.

If variety is the spice of life, this week is set to be a lively one.

Two family members have stabbed each other in Dunedin.

A woman lost on a track near Wanaka used the last remaining battery on her cellphone to call for help.

Leading local family law specialist Fiona Mackenzie was awarded a PhD in law from Otago University yesterday, three decades after

Environmental Protection Authority report finds a number of incidents on the West Coast including one where someone removed signs when baits were still toxic.

Convicted killer Colin Bouwer's bid to block his deportation from New Zealand has been quashed.

Despite tragedy at the weekend, it is one of the "safest" lakes around, the harbourmaster says, because of the clearly-defined areas for passive recreation, such as swimming.

The girlfriend of a 19-year-old man who drowned in an Otago lake on Saturday has criticised the lack of signage on the shore.

A man who saved a young girl from drowning yesterday then went home to get his dive gear to recover the body of a young man.

Police have confirmed a 19-year-old man has died while swimming in Kawarau River on Saturday.

A mentally unwell prisoner was restrained with his hands behind his back for 21 hours a day for 10 weeks, a report has revealed.

Parts of the North Island are expected to hit 30 degrees today, with Hawke's Bay getting the biggest dose of the sun's rays.

One person has died and another has been airlifted to hospital with critical injuries.

Schools are struggling to recruit hundreds of teachers ahead of the 2017 school year.

The third stage of a subdivision next to Jack's Point golf course sold for between $250,000 and $300,000.

People across New Zealand have been basking in today's sunshine as the first weekend of summer did not disappoint.

A photo of two "hot" Southern District police officers posing with puppies has garnered hundreds of likes on Facebook.

A man who put a 3-year-old into a scalding bath, causing the boy's skin to "flake off", has been jailed for nearly four years.

The more porn a man watches, the less sexually intimate he is with his female partner, a new study suggests.

A 40-year-old man had been charged with arson after three fires in Dunedin overnight.

Missing Dunedin woman Alice Tocher has been found and is in a Brisbane hospital, her father has confirmed.

An historic four-storey building near Dunedin's Octagon has been damaged in a suspicious blaze.

Police have released the last name of a Chinese National killed in a three car crash on State Highway 1 near Moeraki last week.

One of the men allegedly behind the Dunedin burglary of a huge weapons cache can now be named.

The signs of summer are among us with pohutakawa trees flowering already and forecasters say the official first day of the season on Thursday will be calm and dry.