A young man is in critical condition after falling from a van on a "joy ride" travelling at 100 kmh through the Cromwell Gorge.

Horse racing trainer Steve Anderton has died in hospital after a freak accident at the family stables near Mosgiel yesterday.

No charges will be laid in relation to the death of a man in Otago Corrections Facility four years ago.

Shandelle Battersby checks into a remote Central Otago lodge that's worth the journey.

The death of a puppy found inside a suitcase in a Milton cemetery is being treated as suspicious, a SPCA Otago inspector says.

Department of Conservation gives warning as ground crews launch another onslaught against a large scrub fire ripping through more than 300ha at Arthurs Pass.

An Australian tourist driver who had his car keys taken from him by a member of the public while driving on the Lindis Pass earlier this month has been fined.

A teenage farmhand became an accidental hero after keeping a potentially disastrous scrub fire at bay.

He spent 18 months without power after his electricity supplier refused to reconnect him after a storm. Now he's won an out-of-court settlement - and an apology.

An Invercargill woman went to great lengths to hide her face yesterday during a court hearing over the 25 cats she keeps on her property.

A Taiwanese visitor who drowned at a Central Otago lake last week has today been named by police.

As hot, dry weather threatens to create a drought, farmers are preparing for the worst.

A search is underway for a swimmer who went missing in Cromwell in Central Otago this afternoon.

A search and rescue operation is underway near Queenstown after a German tourist failed to return a locator beacon by his "panic date".

'Would you rather have distressed kids in the back of the car, or dead kids splattered across the windscreen?' A man defends taking keys off a tourist driver.

Severe thunderstorms may hit Dunedin, North Otago and Clutha this afternoon bringing heavy rain and hail as large as 20mm to some areas, MetService warns.

A member of the public stopped a tourist driving a rental car on the Lindis Pass and took the vehicle's keys, after narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.

"He had the wind up him, so to speak." A 5-year-old was found clutching on to reeds after being blown across Lake Waihola on an inflatable toy this afternoon.

She still thinks of them every day. Katharine Webb has penned a touching memoriam for her two children, killed at the hands of their father.

A driver who stole a car and drove it 28km at speeds of up to 160kmh told police he didn't stop, because he had no licence and had been drinking.

Two men employed by a high school in Otago have been ordered to repay the school's board following a Novopay error.

''It's pretty disappointing and done by a sick mind," says a man who discovered dozens of pieces of barbed wire across an accessway to a Dunedin beach.

Sarah Lang gets on her bike for her health – and a slice of history.

A total fire ban is across Otago as authorities warn of extreme risk of a major blaze which could take weeks to put out.

As temperatures soar above 30C across parts of the country, so has demand for firefighters as tinder-dry conditions create the perfect environment for forest and scrub fires.

Police are investigating after an elderly Dunedin couple was found dead in their home this morning.