A man is dead after his quad bike apparently crashed in steep terrain in central Otago over the weekend.

The hairy faces of three Otago rugby players were shaved at Dunedin Hospital yesterday to raise about $5000 in funds for the children's ward.

One person has been injured in a single vehicle crash near Lake Hawea in Central Otago.

He received death threats for blowing the whistle on a multi-million dollar defence scam - now a retired US Air Force officer is living a quiet life in Central Otago.

Adventure capital Queenstown has a quiet appeal, writes Cate Foster.

The UK's Daily Telegraph asked NZ Prime Minister John Key, about Queenstown, including his favourite sights, hotels, bars and restaurants.

A former Central Otago goldmine worker has admitted stealing gold-bearing sand, which police later found in a plastic lunchbox at his home.

An "insurmountable" lack of radiologists has forced the Southern District Health Board to relinquish the southern breast-screening service from the middle of next year, the board announced yesterday.

A pair of US tourists had to be rescued by a police search and rescue team after becoming stranded on the banks of the Haast River yesterday afternoon.

Queenstown has a wide range of exciting activities on offer, discover Spy editors Andy Pickering and Ricardo Simich.

Police investigations into the death of an Otago remand prisoner have been stepped up following the involvement of New Zealand's police watchdog in the case.

Tramper's instinct proves more reliable than GPS in high country, writes Martin Johnston.

Ryan Karl Tapsell, 40, was sentenced in Dunedin District Court on Friday to four years in prison after being convicted of 15 charges under the Fisheries Act 1996.

Elisabeth Easther pays our winter wonderland a visit.

Potentially life-saving technology, first trialled on Dunedin roads, is being installed throughout Otago in another world first.

An Otago teenager is lucky to have escaped serious injury after a fireball erupted when she was cooking in a Pine Hill house on Tuesday.

Two Dunedin youths have been arrested in relation to the theft and mutilation of a pet lamb in the city last month.

Friends helping an Alexandra teenager celebrate his 18th birthday took cover behind a wheelie bin when he became angry and kept reloading and firing his newly-bought airgun at them.

Otago Bowling Club members split more than $200,000 from the sale of grounds among themselves, instead of giving it to community interests.

Police are extremely concerned for the safety of an Oamaru man who was last seen late on Sunday night.

Sixty-four Dunedin manufacturing workers will have their working week reduced by a day, following KiwiRail's decision to award a manufacturing tender offshore.