On a scenic flight in the south, Elizabeth Carlson gets into the pilot's seat.

The congregation at St Paul’s Church is preparing for "a tough couple of weeks" as the fatal crash of a churchgoer on a skiing holiday was announced.

One person is dead and six more injured - four of them seriously - following a helicopter crash on Mt Alta, near Wanaka, this afternoon, police have confirmed.

Belinda and Campbell Stewart spent their first married moments alone on a mountain peak for perhaps the most dramatic wedding photos ever.

The World Cup final cost some football fans a day's skiing yesterday, with scores of skiers turned away from Cardrona skifield, despite good weather.

The World Cup final appears to have cost some football fans a day's skiing.

Wanaka traders threw open their doors this Easter after being secretly told there would be no Labour inspectors around to catch them, it's been reported.

A Wanaka police officer was left bloodied and bruised after being attacked inside his patrol car yesterday - six years after being seriously injured in a similar drink-drive stop.

A helicopter broke apart in midair near Wanaka after the rotors struck the tail during turbulence, killing the trainee pilot and instructor, a crash investigation has found.

Glad Cross' golf game started out well below par on Tuesday, but the 91-year-old Wanaka woman finished it on a high after scoring her fifth hole-in-one.

By this time next year, the first buildings could be going up in Wanaka's single-biggest commercial and residential development.

Eleven high school pupils who posted photos of themselves online smashing bottles and urinating in the yard of a Queenstown holiday home retreat could face serious charges.

A Central Otago farmer - said to be in the process of brokering a multimillion-dollar export deal with the United Arab Emirates.

Police are interviewing the driver of a white four wheel drive in their inquiry into the death of Rutger Telford Hale.

A rural road near Wanaka is being searched for a mystery object which smashed through a car windscreen this morning, killing the driver.

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.

Elisabeth Easther pays our winter wonderland a visit.

Danielle Wright experiences cross-country skiing at Wanaka.

A pest control programme on land near Lake Wanaka has eradicated almost 700 pests - including a cat compared in size to a panther - in little more than a year.

A couple have appeared in court after their child was removed from school last April and apparently didn't return for the rest of the year.

Residents around Lakes Wanaka and Wakatipu appear to have come through heavy rain over the last two days unscathed. However, with peak levels now due around noon today, the threat of possible flooding remains.

A 10-year-old girl thought to have received an electrical shock during a lightning strike at the Wanaka swimming pool has resumed her holiday.

Predicted heavy rain from tomorrow is raising concerns about possible flooding of lakes Wakatipu and Wanaka.

Snow stopped tourists in their tracks on the Crown Range between Wanaka and Queenstown yesterday morning.

On a clear, calm day, there is just one place 85-year-old Wanaka woman Pat Stuart wants to be - tearing around the lake behind a jet boat on a single water ski.

It was a less than festive Christmas for some yesterday, as many younger family members itched and scratched their way through the celebrations.

The 38-year-old Italian man who died in a skydiving accident while filming a tandem jump in Wanaka yesterday has been named.