Queenstown schools are closed with drivers urged to take extreme care on central South Island roads after heavy snow fell in the area, with more expected.

A teenager who feared for the safety of his sister and her friend took his drink-driving mother's keys and a bottle of gin, then called police.

Revellers celebrating New Year and the start of a new decade in New Zealand behaved themselves last night.

A leaked report recommends setting aside up to a fifth of Mount Aspiring National Park's 350,000ha for possible mining and exploration.

Today marks 100 years since the first ascent of Mt Aspiring, New Zealand's highest peak outside the Aoraki-Mt Cook region.

Police have named the man who died after falling during a climb at Chinaman's Bluff in Central Otago on Friday.

The survivor of a "freak accident" spent a night alone on a narrow ledge at an isolated cliff-face knowing his climbing companion had fallen to his death.