Waikato DHB breached national targets in October and November for the number of patients waiting too long to see a specialist.

Motorists travelling the alternative route between Christchurch and Picton have been caught up in heavy congestion today, as traffic pressure mounts on the post-quake thoroughfare.

The former astronaut, who became ill while visiting Antarctica, has been told to rest up in Christchurch while congestion in his lungs clears.

The "drag queen disco" protest outside Destiny Church today was a great success, says the organiser.

According to Tamaki, Harry Potter is a tool to recruit people toward evil.

From Monday milk tankers and other essential freight will be given access in and out of Kaikoura.

The more porn a man watches, the less sexually intimate he is with his female partner, a new study suggests.

The second man to walk on the moon has been evacuated from Antarctica to New Zealand suffering respiratory problems.

In a meeting with residents last night, Civil Defence staff confirmed two thirds of the village can't return to their homes just yet.

A message from Pope Francis will be delivered this weekend to Kiwis affected by last month's Kaikoura earthquake.

A Christchurch builder who shone a laser pointer at an international passenger jet carrying 121 passengers, dazzling flight crew, has today been jailed for 10 weeks.

Nicole Smith has been found safe on a rural road west of Timaru.

The Kaikoura Earthquake will cost the Government up to $3 billion, the Treasury estimates.

Primary school children in earthquake-hit Kaikoura returned to school and a sense of normality today.

INTERACTIVE: Dams created by landslides in this month's 7.8 quake have been pin-pointed on a detailed new map created by GNS Science and Environment Canterbury.

An HIV-positive Christchurch nursing assistant is accused of having unprotected sex with Grindr dates.

When Stevie arrived and saw Richie McCaw standing in front of a helicopter she was "gobsmacked, speechless", her mother said.

This cutie was amazingly discovered five days after the 7.8 magnitude quake.

A truck and car were involved in a serious accident north of Christchurch this morning.

The signs of summer are among us with pohutakawa trees flowering already and forecasters say the official first day of the season on Thursday will be calm and dry.

Compared to other fibres, yak wool is more sustainable because yaks aren't farmed specifically for wool.

An 18-year-old university student cycled over two hours along Kaikoura's quake-stricken coastline driven by one goal - to catch a flight.

The Government will urgently pass quake recovery laws which allow landslips in the South Island to be cleared into the ocean without consent.

A Dunedin mother-of-three missing since Thursday last week is in Australia, police have confirmed.

All Black Aaron Smith has been pictured in public with his partner Teagan Voykovich for the first time after his toilet incident earlier this year.

COMMENT: Earthquakes make New Zealand great. We would not have a country without them.

COMMENT: The shaking may have shattered homes, dreams and livelihoods, but the spirit of the people remains unbroken.

Two Canterbury fires are being treated as suspicious after being discovered one street apart in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A police officer and pig have become unlikely friends.

A stark image of three cows stranded on an island created by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Kaikoura captured global attention last week.