Last year's weather was a "rollercoaster of temperature-swinging", MetService says in its annual review.

Rachel Glucina checks out the best celeb holiday snaps on Instagram. Warning: involves serious holiday envy.

While most of us agree icecream and cold beverages are refreshing summer treats, do they actually help cool us down?

New Zealanders made their mark overseas last year, most publicly in the entertainment world and the sporting arena.

On November 2, Stephen Lett won the Auckland Marathon, before dashing off to another first in hospital - the birth of his daughter, Ruby.

The former US vice presidential candidate posts New Year's message using images of son Trig standing on family dog.

The Diary has had a cracker year breaking some of the biggest scoops and scandals of 2014.

Back to the Future II thought 2015 would be a futuristic land of flying cars and hovercrafts. As the New Year dawns, which of the film's predictions were hits - and misses?

All technology is doomed to become redundant at some point, but the speed at which obsolescence is conferred upon our gadgets is increasing.

Politician Nanaia Mahuta carries a great deal of expectation on her shoulders - and her back as well as her feet.

Cricketer-turned-politician believed to have tied the knot with divorced mother-of-three - but his family do not approve.

A shark hooked by a fisherman that "tail-walked" before breaking free may well have been a great white, a passing charter skipper says.

Rescued moreporks and two-headed lambs - our furry friends made headlines in the past year for good, bad and downright odd reasons.

This year in books and music, on stage and social media, women have put feminism top of the cultural agenda, says Alice Vincent.

With 2015 just hours away there are plenty of options for those still undecided on how to celebrate the New Year.

Speculation is rife that Sally Ridge has married her partner Warren Fenning in a small family ceremony at a Tauranga boutique B&B owned by Ridge's mum.

Looking back on 2014 New Zealand's historians will see an unremarkable election. The economy was booming, the Government stable, the Prime Minister popular and opinion polls giving his party every prospect of a comfortable re-election.

Tattoo you: Well known Kiwis show off their ink. Pua Magasiva and KJ Apa, Shortland St stars. Their on-screen characters on Shortland Street do not have much to do with each other.

Stalwart Labour MP Trevor Mallard married journalist Jane Clifton in an intimate and sunny ceremony in Wellington yesterday.

It has long been claimed that names can influence your chances of doing well in life and now it seems that monikers can impact on behaviour at school as well.

What might have been. That phrase kept popping into the head as Brendon McCullum crashed the ball around - and out of - the Hagley Oval arena.

A hippopotamus was left lying injured on the side of the road for hours after making a panicked jump from a truck in Taiwan.

Sports fans know about the phenomenal exploits of Brendon McCullum, Lydia Ko and the All Blacks this year. Michael Burgess looks back at 10 other feel-good sports stories that captured the imagination in 2014.

I had a spring in my step all throughout 2014 as the writer of these so-called secret diaries, with their made-up chronicles of the most wretched newsmaker of the week.

The Inspector Morse stories taught me that men are intelligent and sensitive and don't just want to hump everything that breathes.

Cadbury Roses are a Kiwi staple at Christmas - but what are you really getting when you open the box? Wendyl Nissen puts the chocs to the test.

2014 served up more than its fair share of major entertainment stories. From tragic deaths to celebrity scandals, the entertainment industry often dominated the headlines.