A woman has reacted to what she has described as an ''unbelievable'' and ''extraordinary'' $65 parking fine she received at a Dunedin car park.

The 29-year-old woman who suffered serious burns outside a Dunedin service station has been transferred to Middlemore Hospital's burns unit.

"I saw a person burning from the waist up". Witnesses have described their horror at seeing a woman catch fire at a Dunedin petrol station yesterday.

A French vacationer scrambled to throw as many valuables as he could out of a burning building yesterday - only to watch the grass around them catch fire.

George Phillips and Mike Neumegen were a couple of Dunedin uni students when their part-time work as freelance web designers led them to hit on a business idea.

Severe thunderstorms may hit Dunedin, North Otago and Clutha this afternoon bringing heavy rain and hail as large as 20mm to some areas, MetService warns.

Stunned staff and some 100 swimmers watched in disbelief as a fun-loving sea lion waddled through reception and cafe to "swim laps" in a public pool yesterday.

Swimmers were this afternoon evacuated from a public pool after a sea lion "waddled through" reception and entered the water.

An investigation into the deaths of an elderly couple whose bodies were found in their Dunedin home has been completed.

Former Dunedin mayor Peter Chin is recovering in hospital after being revived by an Air New Zealand crew shortly after takeoff.

Mike Rankin counts himself lucky, despite his new truck plummeting over a bank at his Caversham home.

Two cases of ATM "shoulder surfing" have come before Auckland courts today, covering tens of thousands of dollars of alleged offending.

A fire which destroyed a house and damaged another was started by a Dunedin man trying to inhale cannabis over an lpg heater, the Dunedin District Court has been told.

Silver Fern Farms faces a bill of up to $3 million after it was ruled it made more than 100 Dunedin seasonal meat workers redundant.

A surge in the supply of methamphetamine is being pushed by gangs on a "willing market" in the south, police say.

The case of a promising young rugby player who avoided conviction for breaking a man's jaw has again raised concerns that sportspeople have a 'get-out-of-jail-free card'.

A former Dunedin student and aspiring model has been jailed for four years on drugs charges.

A male and female constable were attacked in Dunedin's CBD and police say it shows why the city's bars need to close earlier.

Two Dunedin police officers were violently attacked while breaking up a fight in the Octagon this morning.

A Kiwi researcher is studying how children exercise restraint from tempting lollies - and what it says about their likely self-control later in life.

A 7-year-old boy has made a remarkable recovery after being crushed by a children's motorised train at a Halloween event in Dunedin.

A "predatory" Dunedin lawyer who stole $2.8 million from 32 clients over 21 years in one of the longest-running frauds in NZ history has today been jailed for more than eight years.

Dunedin Botanic Garden staff are on high alert following a break-in by someone they believe was looking for hallucinogenic drug-producing cacti.

A fish tank at cash-strapped Dunedin Hospital cost $73,000 to install and more than $1000 a week to run in its first year.

Staff at a prison where a Dunedin man died in custody knew he was coming with drugs concealed in his body, a Coroners Court hearing has heard.

Car buyers appear unlikely to face charges as a police investigation into the Dunedin City Council's alleged $1.5 million Citifleet fraud draws to a close.