Photo: RNZA boy with no lifejacket spent an hour swimming away from his burning boat on Lake Taupō while rescue helicopter calls were delayed by police, RNZ has learned. However, FENZ told RNZ today it reached the boat at 7.21pm. 'Found in time'Police today told RNZ it was "incredibly frustrating for police given the bylaw restrictions on people under 15 driving boats". A 7.18pm timestamp said they contacted a local rescue helicopter pilot "(not via AirDesk) in the event a helicopter was needed for the Search and Rescue operation". 6.54pm - Airdesk calls Taupō rescue chopper about a 'potential' incident to confirm if equipped for water rescue; told yes.

“It was probably just the choices that we made, that it was wrong and it cost my brother’s life,” Vaa’i said. In a video interview for Water Safety New Zealand, he said he could remember the desperate moments in the water as he scrambled to safety. Photo / Photosport‘Concerning trend’Vaa’i acknowledged the importance of improving water safety outcomes for Pasifika communities, which account for about 8% of drowning fatalities nationally, rising to 17% in Auckland. Water Safety New Zealand said a designated adult needs to be with every individual child around water. Water Safety New Zealand said if you have been drinking alcohol, don’t walk home near water.

Photo: ODT FilesThe New Zealand Transport Agency has commissioned an independent analysis of breath testing data to try and identify the full scale of falsely recorded tests. RNZ earlier revealed about 130 police staff were under investigation throughout the country after 30,000 alcohol breath tests were "falsely or erroneously recorded". NZTA has since halted $6 million worth of funding to police until it was satisfied they had met their breath test targets. "This independent analysis will identify whether any further irregularities (over and above any detected by NZ police) are discernible." "Police continued to deliver "very high levels of breath testing activity", Johnson said.

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A "neighbours at war" situation bubbling away in Dunedin has boiled over after a disagreement over music led to a man waving a hammer at his neighbour. Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said the 74-year-old Cole St, Caversham resident "escalated the situation" by picking up the hammer during their argument at 5pm on Tuesday. In response, the pensioner's neighbour, a 22-year-old man, jumped the fence separating the properties and smashed the glass in his neighbour’s door. The pair have had ongoing issues between one another, Snr Sgt Bond said. Snr Sgt Bond said he was not charged for the damage to the door as the neighbour decided not to lay a complaint.

Drug testing will return to Rhythm and Alps this New Year's. PHOTOS: SUPPLIEDDrug testing units will return to next week’s Rhythm & Alps festival in the Cardrona Valley. Rhythm & Alps is Otago’s largest music festival, with about 10,000 attendees expected over the three-day event. The Rhythm & Alps website said drug use and illicit substances were not permitted on-site. Know Your Stuff testing will also be available at the Lake Wānaka Centre on Sunday December 28 from 10.30am to 4.30pm.

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Photo: suppliedAfter some very serious research and consultation at the Brighton Club on Friday evening about what my final column of the year should be about, it was unanimously agreed that running a column on Christmas Eve that wasn’t actually about Christmas would be rude. It should also be positive and, under no circumstances, intelligent. Since coming up with an overarching theme felt dangerously close to thinking, I landed on something far safer, my Top 10 Favourite Things About a Brighton Christmas. You can’t walk anywhere in Brighton without stopping to chat, which depending on the time of day becomes a coffee or a wine. Watching kids entertain themselves with music, drawing and the occasional bout of lawn-based sumo wrestling is peak Christmas.

Toys made by Otago Corrections Facility prisoners for children staying in Dunedin Hospital for Christmas. Last year’s offering at Dunedin Hospital came under fire from a patient, whose meal of ham and two small potatoes failed to satisfy. The hospital aimed to provide special meals for patients on Christmas Day, to create a special day for those unable to be at home. Normal daily food costs for prisoners came to $9.80, but on Christmas Day this would be increased to $11.10. The toys were given to children staying in Dunedin Hospital for Christmas.

Williams told Goldsmith he had emailed him but did not expect a reply. That email, dated December 2023, detailed his concerns about the now-defeated bill and its political context. “We both know a referendum is not the clean ‘democracy in action’ play that it is purported to be. “I’d be very happy to meet up and talk through some of the things you raised, any time,” he wrote. The Treaty Principles Bill was defeated at its second reading in April.

A Dunedin man got a rude awakening when he went outside his house to find a car crashed in his yard and the driver sauntering away. He went outside to investigate, and found a car crashed into the front of his house. Snr Sgt Bond said officers found out the man, who was allegedly drunk, was driving his friend's car down the road when he lost control and crashed into a parked car. That parked car was then shunted into another parked car. The man’s car then ended up smashing through the resident’s fence and into the front of the property.

Oamaru's long, wide and straight section of State Highway 1 continues to tempt speeding motorists, helping the town’s only speed camera remain one of the busiest in the country. Now, drivers are being asked not to be tempted to drift over the limit. "We urge people to stick to the speed limit at all times for their own safety and the safety of others." Oamaru’s camera is the Otago region’s highest ticketer. Dunedin’s Southern Motorway camera, also on SH1, catches the second-most speeding motorists in the region, which resulted in 5144 tickets being issued between January and November.

John and Mary Lee outside the Cardrona Hotel, which they owned for seven years in the early 1970s. Photo: ODT files / Marjorie CookThe late John Lee, a pivotal figure in the development of the Upper Clutha district through the development of the Cardrona Alpine Resort, Cardrona Hotel and the Snow Farm cross-country skiing facility, will be farewelled at a private ceremony today. The couple’s next major project, the world-class cross-country skiing facility at Waiorau, Snow Farm, opened in 1990. The Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds came to life during the development of Snow Farm in 1984. The Lees then supported their youngest son Sam in the development of freestyle skiing and snowboarding facility Snow Park, in the early 2000s.

The Oamaru Rowing Club has named one its new boats after former club member and Olympian the late Lex Clark, pictured in 2020. PHOTO: SOUTH ISLAND ROWINGThe Oamaru Rowing Club has received an early Christmas present — or three. It has bought three new boats — a coxless four/quad, an eight and a single scull — which took to the water for the first time this month at the Otago Rowing Championships on Lake Ruataniwha. The boats were named after former rowers of the club Jo Kearney, Mark Taylor and the late Lex Clark. She represented New Zealand at the junior and under-23 world championships, earning a silver medal at each regatta.