Despite being warned to "hunker down" by weather analyst Bob McDavitt while a front passes over tonight, Mr Donaldson was in good spirits, Mr Funnell said.

Scientists are searching in an unlikely place for the next big breakthrough - New Zealand's postcard hot springs.

It will take another three decades for the Southern Hemisphere's humpback whale population to recover from the slaughter of the whaling era, scientists say.

A New Zealand resident has been rescued from the Pacific Ocean after the boat he was in began sinking during a 3800km rowing race.

Not long after the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 was declared missing, the world's attention was focused on a remote, poorly known area of the Eastern Indian Ocean as the possible location of the lost aircraft.

Tens of thousands of Kiwis drink water that fails to meet quality or monitoring standards, prompting calls for better investment in New Zealand's smaller supplies.

When Marlborough Boys' College head boy Angus Pauley saw a young girl being swept away by a flooded Blenheim river this morning, he knew what he had to do.

A kayaker who capsized in wild Northland weather last night was embarking on his usual 10-minute commute home from work.

Elderly dementia patients have been evacuated from their Canterbury rest home after it was flooded overnight in a torrential rainstorm.

Scientists are being told to use art and poetry to win public support in the battle to curb climate change.

"Sea," said King Canute, the 11th-century Danish King of England, "I command you to come no further!"

Waiwera mineral water destined for the United Arab Emirates was relabelled to sell in New Zealand after claims the water was unsafe.

Sea ice, winds and invertebrates will go under the microscope in the next stage of a major science programme turning to Antarctica to answer crucial questions about how the Earth will respond to climate change.

It's been found on nearly every bank note in the UK, in toilets at Parliament - now tests confirm cocaine traces are in Britain's drinking water.

If the hike in your rates bill seems less of a leap this year, enjoy it while you can.

Scientists have issued a new warning to the world’s coastal megacities that the threat from subsiding land is a more immediate problem than rising sea levels caused by global warming.

A headline in the Herald reads: "Farmers warned to prepare for the worst as risk of El Nino grows."