Liquor bans are in place and police numbers are being boosted in many of the traditional New Year's Eve hot spots.

A couple were forced to spend a 'tough' night out in the open after abandoning their boat in rough seas off southern Fiordland.

A climber is reported to have been killed and a paraglider has spinal injuries after accidents on two South Island mountains today.

The bodies of two kayakers were found on Lake Wakatipu this morning.

Moose were released in Westland in 1900 and in Fiordland in 1910 but unlike other such introductions they were not a success.

All Black heart-throb Dan Carter hatched a plan to lure girlfriend Honor Dillon to Queenstown last weekend before asking her to marry him.

The icy southerly sweeping up the North Island has brought snow to the hills around Waikato and the Bay of Plenty and in some paddocks.

Allowing brothels to operate near playgrounds, schools or churches in central Otago resort towns is "unacceptable", a lobby group says.