Temperatures inside the Pike River Coal mine continue to fluctuate, frustrating those charged with retrieving the bodies of 29 men killed in a series of explosions since November 19.

Police have named the 19-year-old who died when he was thrown out of a car as it plunged 25 metres down a cliff at the Pinewoods Motor Park in Red Beach, north of Auckland, early this morning.

The death of a 15-year-old driver who fled from police this morning was 'completely avoidable', say police. Timoti Mohi was driving a stolen car when he failed to stop for police and drove off at speeds of up to 180km/h.

A post-mortem on teenager Cem Erbay, who went missing in the Coromandel early on New Year's Day, has found his death was not suspicious and he most likely died as a result of a fall.

Campers at a coastal campground north of Auckland are in shock after a teenager was thrown out of a car as it plunged 25 metres down a cliff at the campground early this morning.

Alcohol and speed contributed to more than half the 13 deaths on New Zealand roads over the holiday period.

The holiday road toll stands at 13, the same as last year, following two fatal crashes in Auckland overnight.

A post-mortem examination of Cem Erbay will be carried out today, say police.

A nine-year-old Auckland boy survived going over a 20m waterfall in Queensland.

The body found near Matarangi on the Coromandel Peninsula yesterday has been identified as that of missing teenager Cem Erbay. The death is being treated as suspicious.

An elderly man is dead after his car swerved into a park van in Papakura, south of Auckland - but he may not be added to the holiday road toll, which now stands at 11.

A range of causes have been blamed for hospital emergency departments being swamped by a holiday rush.

A fleeing driver was taken to hospital after crashing near central Auckland.

The death of a man hurt in a Waikato crash has brought the holiday road toll to 10. A 20-year-old died of his injuries about 4pm in Waikato Hospital. A car he was in yesterday hit a van carrying five disabled children on SH1.

The holiday road toll has risen to nine following a crash involving two motorcycles on the Coromandel peninsula this afternoon.