Expert alpine searchers have found a body in the Nelson Lakes National Park area while searching for missing British tramper Andrew Ian Wyatt.

A captain of a fishing vessel in Nelson was making more than $100,000 a year and living in a state house, Housing Minister Nick Smith said last night.

An elderly firebug has been jailed for more than seven years today after lighting a series of forest fires south of Nelson.

A 7-year-old Nelson boy is in a critical condition after being hit by a school bus he walked in front of this morning, police say.

A truck laden with newspapers ignited in a dramatic fire in Canterbury early this morning.

A 23-year-old Israeli woman had to be airlifted out of a forest area in the Nelson region today after her leg became impaled on a stick while horse riding.

A woman has died and two others injured when the car they were in submerged in Saltwater Creek in Nelson.

A German driver was getting ready to eat spaghetti at the wheel when his stationwagon crashed head-on with a ute, killing him and a fellow tourist, an inquest has found.

Three teenagers had their cars impounded and licences suspended after reaching speeds of nearly 180km/h while racing in Nelson.

When Simon Owen and Kay McQuire moved their family from Auckland to sunny Nelson, they had no work lined up, no friends there and no home to go to.

The average price of an Auckland house continues to race ahead of those in other parts of the country — what kind of property could you now gain if you cashed up in Auckland and moved for a more relaxed lifestyle?

Apart from being home to New Zealand's entire hop production, the Nelson region is also home to a dazzling group of breweries and craft beer bars.