All systems are go for the launch from Wanaka Airport this morning of Nasa's heavy-lift super pressure balloon.

There will be no prosecution over a burn-off at Wanaka last October, despite many official complaints about smoke from the fire blanketing the town.

It has been a "bad and very sad year already" for aviation in the south, the Civil Aviation Authority says.

Tributes are flowing in today for two of New Zealand's most experienced Cessna pilots who died in a horror crash that also claimed the lives of their two children.

Four bodies - believed to be from the same family - were last night recovered from the wreckage of a light aircraft near Wanaka.

Police have recovered four bodies from a light plane that crashed near Wanaka.

Aballoon the size of Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium is scheduled to lift off above the scenic Central Otago town of Wanaka on Tueday and float 34km into space.

The wife of Steve Combe, the Wanaka pilot killed in a helicopter crash, says her husband was 'larger than life'.

The death of two tourists whose campervan was swept away in a slip was the result of a "tragic coming together of a number of events", a coroner has found.

Police have found a sleeping bag and other items believed to belong to missing climber Simon Bell.

As search efforts continue, police are piecing together the last known whereabouts of missing climber Simon Bell.

A mountaineer aiming to conquer a record 100 NZ peaks - and who once saved a companion's life in a daring rescue - is missing in Mt Aspiring National Park.

The body of a well-regarded music journalist who went missing while tramping in Mount Aspiring National Park has been found.

The object that flew through a windscreen, killing a young driver, has never been found - and now a coroner has said, it's unlikely that it ever will be.

A base jumper has completed what is believed to be New Zealand's biggest base jump, with a vertical drop of almost 2km.

Friends of Scott "Brock" Oliver are coming to terms with news the lively DJ and journalist is presumed drowned after going missing in high country.

A "one-off" drug deal at a Wanaka preschool has resulted in two teachers having their registrations torn up.

A 69-year-old Wanaka woman died yesterday after slipping and falling about 40m from a Department of Conservation walking track near Glendhu Bay, Wanaka.

Wanaka man Duncan Boswell has won his battle to get to Gallipoli. He and son Rhys will be part of the New Zealand contingent attending the centenary of the World War I Anzac campaign.

Professional freestyle skier caught drink-driving is discharged without conviction.

Eveline Harvey and her family check into a well-appointed apartment in Central Otago.

These beautifully-appointed apartments in a quiet street offer the perfect holiday accommodation option for families.

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Three people killed in a horror smash in Central Otago this afternoon were all foreign nationals, police say.

A prosecution could be in the wind for TradeMe founder Sam Morgan, after a burn-off on his property on Tuesday blanketed Wanaka in smoke.

Thick smoke from a farmer's burn-off blanketed Wanaka for much of yesterday afternoon, angering some residents and perplexing tourists.

Police are still in the dark as to what caused a Dutch visitor to lie down on a dimly-lit Wanaka road before he was run over by a taxi and killed last weekend.

As an inquest begins into the death of Rutger Hale from a mystery object that smashed through his car windscreen, his family say they believe someone knows what happened.