After extensive fire damage the Greymouth fishing boat Te Aroha has risen from the ashes and is back trawling off the West Coast.

A downed line that sent a high-voltage current down an electric fence on a Port Chalmers property yesterday could have been deadly.

Christmas Day should be fine but be ready for thunderstorms in the coming days.

It's the biggest cruise ship to visit and likely the most valuable machine to call at New Zealand.

GRAPHIC WARNING: A calf has been brutally shot at least five times and left to die a slow painful death in the South Island.

Burglars snuck into the destroyed two-story house and stole the only salvageable items including a TV, a cabinet and food.

Ross pensioner Sam Viney already has the NZCC Rescue Helicopter to thank for saving his life - more than once - and now he has 10,000 more reasons to thank the rescue service.

A person has been injured at a Dunedin trampoline park and is being flown to hospital.

Two men have been arrested in relation to alleged methamphetamine and cannabis offences following a raid at a Westport house this morning.

A solo paraglider was seriously injured after plunging about 9m to the ground near Arrowtown last night.

A major Dunedin tourism operator says it may be time to reconsider turning away public bookings in favour of cruise ship passengers.

A man who caused the armed offenders squad to swoop on a Queenstown property has been sentenced.

The super-rich are booking into this just-opened lakefront penthouse.

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher has had enough of the "lowlife who has left their pathetic tags" around Oamaru, including on private and

Bill English's new Cabinet heard proposals on the earthquake-ravaged Christchurch Cathedral rebuild today.

The owner of a Christchurch home where a man posing as a delivery driver forced his way inside today and tied up a husband and wife for three hours has been "targeted" before, a source says.

There was a record downpour in Auckland, a tornado in Taranaki and "quake lights" above Wellington. Oh, and 2016 was likely also New Zealand's hottest year on record.

A bad weather forecast has scuppered the historic Dunedin visit of mega-cruise ship the Ovation of the Seas on Thursday.

Gore's anti-prohibition whisky makers had plenty of bite, writes Eleanor Ainge Roy.

A man posing as a delivery driver burst into a Christchurch home this morning, tied up a husband and wife for three hours, before fleeing in their car.

The two trampers missing in Arthur's Pass National Park have been found.

Justine Tyerman and her husband warm to the deadline-free realities of life on the road.

Four people got into difficulty due to bad weather and windy conditions. Three capsized from their plastic yellow skiffs. One was not wearing a life-jacket.

If variety is the spice of life, this week is set to be a lively one.

It will be another good day for going to the beach for much of the north of the country.

"We had a lot of people both in New Zealand and overseas who couldn't get here before Christmas so we have extended the sale date."

A firefighter has drained an entire town's water supply after filling up a school swimming pool from a hydrant in a small South Island town.

Local runanga have halted slip-clearing operations on earthquake-damaged State Highway 1 and the rail link north of Kaikoura.

Armed police discovered live booby traps, an underground bunker and weapons, including an AK47, during a raid of a property near Timaru today.

Has the mystery of a 100m-long object that washed up on Te Waewae Bay in western Southland this week been solved?