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.

Trouble has again hit the Melilla 201. It's been tied up at a Dunedin wharf for two years, and nearly ran aground as it tried to leave yesterday.

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".

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.

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.

Justine Tyerman cycles to Paradise ...