Nature's treasures keep drawing people south to the Teviot Valley, finds Elisabeth Easther.

A castle, gardens and penguins give the student town of Dunedin a more refined air, finds Sam Wicks.

Two men plucked from rough seas near Taieri Island yesterday after clinging for hours to an upturned kayak are ''lucky to be alive'', their rescuer says.

Craig Mitchell guided his stricken Cessna 182 to a crash landing in the soft sand of Tomahawk Beach to avoid beachgoers.

A pilot and his passenger had a lucky escape after their light plane crashed on Tomahawk Beach yesterday afternoon after ''spluttering'' over the city.

Home and business owners were mopping up yesterday ready to assess the damage after an hour long thunderstorm hammered Alexandra.

Louise Richardson's kids are so charmed by scenery and history they manage to put down their devices for a while.

It has been a "bad and very sad year already" for aviation in the south, the Civil Aviation Authority says.

Four bodies - believed to be from the same family - were last night recovered from the wreckage of a light aircraft near Wanaka.

Police have recovered four bodies from a light plane that crashed near Wanaka.

A scene examination has been completed at the Dunedin house where a 24-year-old was found dead yesterday, police say.

Women outweigh the men in Queenstown's first official marathon, says Rachel Grunwell.

A shopping company is being investigated over revelations some of its door-to-door staff regularly visit beneficiaries in a Dunedin boarding house.

The Dunedin City Council's group debt has dropped by more than $25 million on the back of stronger results by its companies, new figures show.

The company running Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium is promising a "completely different ball game" despite confirming another $1 million loss.

Our ancestors would have ventured deeper into our back country if they'd been able to do so in a powerful jetboat, writes Lisa Scott.

''Everyone just ran and glass showered down on to the road.'' Exploding glass caused a shower of fragments onto Dunedin's main street yesterday.

Six overseas drivers have appeared in court over the past 24 hours after a series of crashes that have focused attention on tourist driving.

A heartbroken family are mourning the loss of 5-year-old Ruby Jay Marris after a car crash involving a foreign driver in Otago.

The 5-year-old Oamaru girl killed in a crash in North Otago on Saturday has been named by police.

Government inaction has been blamed for "driving the tourist road toll" up, following two crashes involving Chinese visitors over the weekend.

A 32-year-old Chinese tourist will appear in court today after a 5-year-old Oamaru girl was killed in a North Otago crash on Saturday afternoon.

Aviation businesses face an uncertain wait and the prospect of financial losses after the grounding of the type of helicopter involved in a fatal crash last week.

A motivational speaker who lost his legs in a train accident as child has begun cycling the Central Otago Rail Trail this weekend.

A five-year-old girl died in a fatal crash in North Otago last night.

Two people have been injured in a head-on collision on a country road.

Four men were jailed for at least 17 years for murdering a farmhand in North Otago but sentencing marred by hurling of abuse.