A teenager's New Year's Day fun turned to tragedy after he jumped from a 24m waterfall and never surfaced.

A two-year old has died falling part-way out of a bunk bed and suffocating while on a family holiday.

Experts believe publicity around new laws on cellphone use, drugged drivers and illegal street racing led to the smallest number of road deaths ever recorded.

The outdoor guiding industry needs to make greater efforts to control hazards, the Labour Department says in a report on the death of a guide on Aoraki/Mt Cook.

A woman is dead after a crash north of Queenstown this afternoon, taking the holiday road toll to six.

New Zealand's road toll was running last night at its second lowest since 1960, although the police still want drivers to take extra care over New Year.

Two separate incidents on Bay of Plenty roads have pushed up the holiday road toll tonight.

A notoriously dangerous stretch of Northland beach has claimed the life of an Auckland man trying to pull his grandchildren from a rip.

Sea lice bites, swimmers' rash, summer rash - whatever you want to call it, it's rife at this time of year and drives swimmers crazy.

A teenager was in a critical condition last night after two cars collided and one spun off the road and burst into flames.

Diesel and whey have spilled into the Awakino River after a milk tanker crashed into the waterway and overturned.

All Black great Grahame Thorne has spoken of his grief at losing his eldest son in a Christmas Eve car crash in South Africa.

The final hours of Darren Grace's life are proving the greatest mystery to those he left behind.

A 61-year-old church minister was killed on Christmas Eve when two 4WD vehicles collided and rolled in Napier.

Two of the best months recorded on New Zealand roads have given officials hope that there will be fewer than 400 deaths this year.

The son of a former All Black winger has died following a car crash in South Africa.

Four people have died in three separate North Island crashes just hours before the start of the official Christmas road toll.