Two Australian climbers were injured on Aoraki/Mt Cook overnight when they were hit by ice and fell 200m.

Debbie Armstrong is still haunted by the memory of watching her husband die, but she has managed to carry on.

The Coastguard is warning boaties to check conditions after gusting winds caused a spate of accidents on the Hauraki Gulf yesterday. Many of the incidents involved smaller boats which were unable to handle high winds and rough seas.

Sympathy has turned to anger as people in Waimarama try to understand the actions of four adults who crashed a quad bike, critically injuring a "beautiful little girl" late on Wednesday night.

A doctor on duty when a group of injured people were brought in after a quad bike crash says innocent people will continue to be hurt if there is not a change in attitudes towards alcohol.

Parents of children killed in the Doha Mall fire last year say they have been attacked by defence lawyers in a hearing to determine responsibility for the 19 deaths.

A little girl was fighting for her life in the Starship last night as police investigated whether four adults riding with her on a quad bike that crashed should be charged.

Police are deciding whether charges should be laid against the four drunk adults who took a 6-year-old girl on a quad bike that crashed and left her injured.

Last year New Zealand recorded its second lowest road toll in 50 years, with the deaths of young people significantly stemmed, police say.

The road toll for the year stands at 318 - more than 40 higher than the 2011 tally.

A flash flood which unleashed a "wave of water'' claimed the life of a Greytown man who won an Oscar for his work on LotR.

Two people were taken to Whangarei Hospital by ambulance following a road crash on State Highway 1 this morning.

A truck driver's come away from a crash in Counties Manukau unscathed.

Three men have been taken to hospital after a car rolled into the sea in Nelson.

An Australian woman who survived a Christmas Day plane crash in Burma says there was no warning and she feared she wouldn't make it out of the burning aircraft.

This year has seen dizzying highs, devastating lows, Mother Nature at her most furious, a mesmerising court case and panic as Marmite production ceased.

Fatal accidents, breakdowns and huge traffic backlogs have plagued the first four days of the official Christmas road toll period.

The horrific Boxing Day death of a 16-year-old boy from South Otago is the year's seventh quad bike fatality.

Two cars have been involved in a serious crash south of Gisborne.

A newborn baby was taken to hospital after a head-on crash. Firefighters had to winch the family's car off a road barrier and wedge the passenger door open to free her.

A 16-year-old boy has died following a motorbike crash in Southland last night.

An MP has demanded ACC explain why it has more than halved overseas care payments to a British woman whose daughter was left severely disabled after a New Zealand medical misadventure.