Police have released the name of the man killed in a crash near Kaiapoi on Friday.

Justine Tyerman finds one of the only flattish walks in the Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park - even Japanese ladies in high heels and Aussies in jandals can manage the Hooker Valley track.

Photos of the aftermath as scrub fires destroyed cars, farms and properties near Prebbleton in Christchurch.

The building sector has taken off and Canterbury earthquake repairs are one of its biggest drivers.

The number of consents issued for new homes continued a 20-month growth trend by rising again in November, show figures out today.

A twenty-year-old who was missing for 24 hours on a mountain battered by severe storms has been found "walking, talking and cold", police say.

Fletcher Construction was fined $45,000 today for a health and safety breach while workers pulled down Christchurch's quake-battered Hotel Grand Chancellor.

A 15-year-old Christchurch schoolboy drowned when his family misread a sign, assuming that because it showed a person swimming it meant the river was safe.

A High Court order enforcing the exhumation of a Christchurch man's body might be needed to finally return his body to his partner, after it was taken to Bay of Plenty.

Denise Clarke is overwhelmed that the fight to have the body of her partner returned is over after it was taken by his family to be buried with his ancestors.

The family of a man, who was buried in a place against his partner's wishes has lost a five-year legal battle to have his body buried with his ancestors, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The murder trial for two Sri Lankans accused of killing a fellow countryman has been set down for next June.