Four Queenstown men are lucky to be alive after their kayaks overturned and they were swept out to sea off the Otago coast.

A Dunedin youth advocate has hit out at Child, Youth and Family after young offenders have had to spend time in police cells.

Police were called to reports of disorder following a large student party in the Dunedin Botanic Garden yesterday.

In an "unprecedented" move, nurses from Timaru were drafted in to work at Dunedin Hospital for two days this week because of pressure on the hospital.

Two women have been arrested after the armed offenders squad blocked off part of Maitland St in Dunedin this afternoon.

An Auckland teen faces a raft of violence charges after he allegedly assaulted a university warden on Dunedin's infamous Castle St.

A quick-thinking fast-food worker extinguished a bus fire in Dunedin.

Hundreds of people in Auckland and Otago are being given preventive antibiotics

Law Society says any 19-year-old with no previous convictions would not have been jailed on the same charges.

The sentence given to Nikolas Delegat for assaulting a policewoman has been widely condemned.

A father and daughter pleaded guilty to incest when they appeared in the Dunedin District Court this afternoon.

A fisherman on a burning boat grounded the vessel on rocks before leaping to safety near Dunedin yesterday afternoon.

The police officer who was knocked unconscious by a rich-lister's son in an alcohol-fuelled attack was also attacked by a young man five years ago.

The rich-lister's son who punched a female police officer unconscious has today apologised for his "bad decision in the heat of the moment".

The female police officer punched in the face by the son of a rich-lister who escaped a jail sentence is still being helped by colleagues on her road back to work, 18 months after the attack.

Two men have been caught smuggling meth into Dunedin on a flight from the North Island.

An ambulance officer is being treated for moderate injuries after an ambulance hit ice and slid off the road on the Southern Motorway near Dunedin tonight.

A woman says she was left shaking by the "over-the-top" response from Dunedin police after she and her partner were rebuked for opening a drink mid-flight.

The 15-year hospital food service contract with the Compass Group had to be renegotiated because so few DHBs had joined, it has emerged.

Mount Aspiring College's principal says the school will try to continue with business as usual.

Two 13-year-old schoolgirls 'had a scrap'' at McDonald's Restaurant in George St yesterday afternoon, police said.

A Mt Aspiring College pupil is being treated for meningococcal disease in Dunedin Hospital.

A mourning family is preparing for the possibility the man who pleaded guilty to causing a crash which killed Dunedin man Riley Baker may never serve prison time.

Cattle mysteriously washed up on Dunedin beaches are a puzzle for local authorities.

Up to three dead cows have mysteriously washed up on a Dunedin beach this weekend.

A 1-year-old boy was flown to Dunedin Hospital with serious injuries after falling from the balcony of a house in Frankton Rd yesterday.

A 33-year-old Dunedin psychology student appeared in court in relation to a wild car ride which left a trail of destruction.

One person is in Dunedin Hospital with serious injuries after two cars collided shortly before 10pm on Tuesday night.

A 33-year-old Dunedin psychology student appeared in court yesterday in relation to a wild car ride which left a trail of destruction in Mornington.

Caroline Quirey looks like a normal 11-year-old but behind her smile the Dunedin school pupil is fighting a rare bone marrow disorder.