South Islanders will have some reprieve from the cold winds, rain and snow that lashed regions yesterday but are warned to expect more days like that this winter.

Police have called off the search for a vessel believed to be missing on Lake Wakatipu, in the Otago region.

A 16-year-old boy was seriously injured in what police have described as a “cowardly unprovoked group attack” outside a party in Dunedin.

A big scrub fire broke out in the Scroggs Hill near Mosgiel, Otago, this afternoon.

Two men arrested following a serious assault in Wanaka have had charges against them upgraded to attempted murder.

Any hopes of a nude Pirates rugby team have been dashed with the return of most of the senior team’s jerseys.

Fergus Blakiston finds time between lattes for snowboarding on a trip to Queenstown.

A woman who was supplying an underground cannabis culture was a valued member of the community who gave any proceeds of her drug-dealing to charity.

Pirates' senior rugby team is facing the prospect of a nude alternative strip after its playing kit was stolen at the weekend.

Ski fields around the country are experiencing their first rounds of snowfall for the year and some could be in for a snowier season than last year.

A driver was allegedly almost five times the new drink-drive limit when stopped by Queenstown police on Sunday.

Queenstown Airport has topped a list of the world's most stunning airport approaches.

A Dunedin builder smashed the rear window of a sinking car in Otago Harbour to drag its teenage driver to safety.

Richie McCaw's old rugby club has cancelled tomorrow's match in honour of a clubmate killed in a horror crash last weekend.

More than a quarter of ear, nose and throat patients who need surgery are being turned away from the overloaded Dunedin Hospital department, a letter released under the Official Information Act shows.

Three schoolboys ''playing chicken'' with a train in Oamaru have traumatised its driver and horrified KiwiRail.

From wildlife to heritage to chocolate, Peter Feeney finds plenty of reasons to extend your visit to Dunedin.

Dunedin 12-year-old Charlotte Cogger has learned she has two things in common with the newest member of the Royal Family - the same first and second names.

A part of Oamaru's industrial area has been cordoned off and part of the main southern main trunk line, after an explosive substance was found in a bucket at a scrapyard this morning.

US student Allison Willen was making her way, alone, through flood water covering a section of the Young Valley walking track when she was swept to her death.

An American tourist found dead in a river near Wanaka yesterday had previously described her first tramping trip in a column published by Otago University’s student magazine Critic.

Allison "Ally" Willen was last seen on the Gillespie Pass track on April 25, Senior Sergeant Ben Butterfield said.

A fugitive who went on the run in Dunedin has been found after eluding police for much of the day.

A Central Otago boutique hotel with a conscience mixes pleasure with wellbeing, discovers Jesse Mulligan.

Police fear a missing University of Otago student could have been swept away in a flooded river during a tramp in Mt Aspiring National Park at the weekend.

Millbrook Resort plans to spend $50 million on a new golf and residential development.

The police prosecutor in charge of Edward Livingstone's second protection order breach has conceded mistakes might have been made in the way police handled the case.