Eleven high school pupils who posted photos of themselves online smashing bottles and urinating in the yard of a Queenstown holiday home retreat could face serious charges.

A Central Otago farmer - said to be in the process of brokering a multimillion-dollar export deal with the United Arab Emirates.

Police are interviewing the driver of a white four wheel drive in their inquiry into the death of Rutger Telford Hale.

A rural road near Wanaka is being searched for a mystery object which smashed through a car windscreen this morning, killing the driver.

A pair of US tourists had to be rescued by a police search and rescue team after becoming stranded on the banks of the Haast River yesterday afternoon.

Elisabeth Easther pays our winter wonderland a visit.

The body of a local politician has been found in Lake Wanaka, after his family raised the alarm when he failed to return from a fly-fishing trip at the Makarora River mouth.

A couple have appeared in court after their child was removed from school last April and apparently didn't return for the rest of the year.

Residents around Lakes Wanaka and Wakatipu appear to have come through heavy rain over the last two days unscathed. However, with peak levels now due around noon today, the threat of possible flooding remains.

A 10-year-old girl thought to have received an electrical shock during a lightning strike at the Wanaka swimming pool has resumed her holiday.

Predicted heavy rain from tomorrow is raising concerns about possible flooding of lakes Wakatipu and Wanaka.

Snow stopped tourists in their tracks on the Crown Range between Wanaka and Queenstown yesterday morning.

On a clear, calm day, there is just one place 85-year-old Wanaka woman Pat Stuart wants to be - tearing around the lake behind a jet boat on a single water ski.

It was a less than festive Christmas for some yesterday, as many younger family members itched and scratched their way through the celebrations.

A skydiver has been killed near Wanaka today after falling to his death near the town's airport and landing in a local golf course.

Herbicide leaked from spilled containers after a heavy truck carrying freight crashed on State Highway 8 near Tarras, near Wanaka, early yesterday.

An Australian tramper with a serious lower leg injury was lifted off the Motatapu Track near Wanaka late on Tuesday afternoon.

A Wanaka accountant has been ordered to pay more than $26,000 after he was appointed receiver of a failed winemaker despite an obvious conflict of interest.

The Wanaka farmer whose authorised burn-off sparked a massive fire which burned over 350ha says neighbouring property owners are "ecstatic" with the outcome.

About 40 firefighters have managed to contain a large bush fire beneath the summit of Roy's Peak, Wanaka.

Danielle Wright hits the South Island ski fields, on a sled pulled by huskies.

A strong magnitude 5.3 earthquake has rocked much of the West Coast and Otago this morning.

Danielle Wright finally graduates off the bunny slope, with the help of a bicycle on three skis.