A flash storm that dropped hail stones the size of golf balls caught residents near Ashburton off guard last night.

'It's not the sort of thing you'd want to come across when you're getting the paper from the mailbox.' A fur seal surprised Dunedin residents yesterday.

Parts of Dunedin were flooded late yesterday afternoon when a thunderstorm struck, causing havoc for some central-city businesses.

'Not knowing whether they're going to survive is stressful,' says a man who hit a woman on a pedestrian crossing. The pair now want to prevent similar accidents.

Violent drunken offending in Dunedin was unrelenting and something needed to be done about it, Judge Michael Crosbie yesterday told a man who headbutted another man while drunk in a Mosgiel pub earlier this year.

Dunedin police will not reveal how a man, whom they described as a dangerous criminal, was able to escape from custody at the Dunedin Central police station this week.

A special ceremony at a Dunedin hospice has proved that love truly can conquer all, as a bride married her sweetheart - who has just days to live.

What are the top toys for Christmas? 6-year-old Maya Satake can tell you - she's one of four official toy testers for The Warehouse.

A Seventh Day Adventist Church pastor has denied encouraging members of his congregation to lend money to a church member now on trial for an alleged $850,000 scam.

Ireland as an opponent hold a special significance for Sam Cane.

A pastor and members of his congregation lost $850k to a fellow church member who falsely claimed he had $30m owed to him from a Nigerian oil contract, a court hears.

Offensive graffiti appearing on the site of a proposed secondary boarding school for Muslim boys, and negativity circulating about the Muslim education system, has dismayed the Al-Noor Charitable Trust.

A warrant of fitness rating system for Dunedin rental properties is believed to be the first of its kind in the country.

A man who tried to a rape a woman in a Dunedin park and later told police it was because he could not "get a missus" has failed to get his sentence overturned.

Sarah Lang finds Dunedin is much more than a city of Scots and scarfies — and a special spot for a weekend getaway.

The country is in for a mixed bag of weather over Labour Weekend, with sun, wind and rain predicted.

A van used in an attempted abduction at the weekend had been spotted in south Dunedin and the city's business district, police say.

New Zealanders' attitudes to Asian people are becoming more positive, with more than half of non-Asians believing Asian immigration to be a good thing, a study shows.

Two men have been charged with abduction after they allegedly tried to drag a 22-year-old woman into a van at 9.30pm in Dunedin on Saturday night.

The fixed speed camera on Caversham Valley Rd, near Lookout Point, in Dunedin, was removed as part of a multimillion highway safety upgrade.

A gas main was ruptured by workers at a construction site in the Albion Lane area, Dunedin, about 8.45am. The Fire Service has finished dissipating remaining gas residues.

A convicted sex offender who sexually assaulted a young woman at knifepoint while on parole has appealed against what he calls a "manifestly excessive'' open-ended preventive sentence.

The $20,000 offered for information on the whereabouts of Simon Garrick is the 12th reward offered by police for a murder inquiry in the past decade.

Southern police have taken the unusual step of posting a $20,000 reward in the hope of finding Simon James Garrick, last seen by his family a year ago.

About 130 pairs of hands and a "year's worth" of weekends have helped complete a predator-proof fence perched above the cliffs of St Clair, Dunedin.