Seven people, including an infant, went out on a small boat yesterday, but just the skipper was wearing a lifejacket.

Wet weather today will clear throughout the country making way for a mainly fine Christmas weekend.

The Canterbury DHB faces mounting deficits if nothing changes, a PwC report shows.

A legal settlement will stop vegetation being cleared without permission in Canterbury's picturesque Mackenzie Country.

Christmas Day should be fine but be ready for thunderstorms in the coming days.

Burglars snuck into the destroyed two-story house and stole the only salvageable items including a TV, a cabinet and food.

A trailer previewing a documentary sharing the inspirational journey of young Christchurch cancer survivor Jake Bailey has been released tonight.

The main road into Kaikoura from the south has been opened to daytime traffic in time for Christmas.

All Blacks great Richie McCaw flies with Santa into earthquake-battered Kaikoura today.

There was a record downpour in Auckland, a tornado in Taranaki and "quake lights" above Wellington. Oh, and 2016 was likely also New Zealand's hottest year on record.

A man who tied up three people in Christchurch is still on the run.

A Christchurch brothel owner stands to lose $2m after a judge ruled in favour of police.

Firefighters battled a blaze that gutted a two-story house in Christchurch this evening.

Geonet say there is a 98 per cent chance of an aftershock of 6 to 6.9 magnitude in the next year.

Police are seeking two young men after the aggravated robbery of a bus driver in Christchurch.

Finance Minister Steven Joyce outlines his attitude to Auckland's woes, Super Fund and tax.

If variety is the spice of life, this week is set to be a lively one.

All Blacks great Richie McCaw and fiancee Gemma Flynn have splashed out on a spectacular $2.5m family home.

A jealous truck driver who hit his neighbour and occasional lover with a garden gnome and bashed her to death with a metal bar has failed to get off his conviction.

Hundreds of people have lodged injury claims following last month's massive magnitude-7.8 earthquake.

People whose houses were damaged in last month's earthquake can apply for a $1000 Red Cross grant.

School leavers remarkably unaffected by earthquakes, surprising research finds.

A former Canterbury primary school principal who groomed a young boy before sexually assaulting him over half a decade was today jailed for more than nine years.

The quake struck just after midnight on November 14, causing massive fault line ruptures and slips, damaging buildings and closing key roads.

A truck has rolled, blocking one lane of State Highway 7 - the temporary main road between Picton and Christchurch.

Kaikoura has another $2.7 million to help it rebuild after being hit hard by the devastating earthquake last month.

COMMENT: A year after the earthquake, I stood outside the old chicken wire fence and stared in. All you could hear was the easterly.

A free service has been set up to ease the Christmas shopping horror.

A young Christchurch builder allegedly sacked via text didn't tell his family and for a week pretended to go to work every morning.

New 3D fly-through footage of the Kaikoura coastline is being used to assess key areas of damage.