More than half of New Zealand's 41,000 homeless people are now families with children, according to new Otago University research.

A police investigation into a birthday cake laced with cannabis, which was served at a Nelson restaurant to unsuspecting diners, has been inconclusive.

The man, who is a local and was known to the victim, was arrested and charged during the weekend.

A 52-year-old man has been charged with the murder of John Murray Morton whose body was found in the rear of a boat in Nelson two weeks ago.

Police have confirmed a Nelson man suffered a "very violent attack" which led to his death.

The victim of a suspicious death in Nelson lived on a boat often seen in the area where his body was found.

The victim of a suspicious death on a Nelson boat was a man of European descent, police say.

Elisabeth Easther explores a piece of paradise, at the top of the South Island.

Three people rescued from a mountain in the Nelson Lakes area this evening huddled together in a make-shift snow cave as they waited for help.

Police are seeking information about an assault in a Nelson suburb last night.

A man was left unconscious and with serious injuries after a group of people attacked him in Nelson, early on Sunday morning.

An elderly woman was indecently assaulted at her home in Nelson after a man approached her asking for a glass or water.

Police are today visiting a top Nelson high school after reports of a fight breaking out among a group of girls on the school grounds.

Elisabeth Easther finds herself stoked with a small town's selection of brews.

Nelson police are at the scene of an address in Stoke, where a person's body has been found.

A crossing appeared in a South Island town -- and just as quickly disappeared again.

Shandelle Battersby checks in to the Rutherford Hotel in Nelson.

Two policemen who saved a man from a burning flat are being hailed as lifesavers. One of the rescuers required hospital treatment for smoke inhalation.

Police said no one was injured in the incident on the Coastal Highway near Mapua, between Nelson and Motukea.

Two trampers were rescued from a mountain in Nelson Lakes National Park after spending a night exposed to -18C and falling snow.

Two people have been seriously injured in an accident early this morning after the car they were travelling in rolled down a bank in the Awatere Valley.

The Wilsons could rightly claim Abel Tasman, but choose to share the land.

A man accused of pointing an air gun at a bar patron was arrested last night after being found with a pistol, tomahawk and cannabis.

An enterprising Kiwi couple have converted an old flatbed truck into their dream country home.

Police are investigating the sexual assault of a woman near the Maitai River in Nelson overnight.

Abel Tasman's coastal track meanders past some of our most beautiful bays and beaches.