Crowds thronged the Dunedin Railway Station at the weekend for a last shot at finding a special something for under the tree.

MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for much of the east coast of the South Island for today. 

A sliver of land, roughly the same area as a quarter of a tennis court, is the source of a land transfer application by a Dunedin company.

A live music advocacy group has welcomed proposed changes to noise regulations in central Dunedin which it says will give them a chance to open new venues and protect threatened ones.

Vessels entering Otago Harbour were met with larger-than-normal surf as waves were breaking on the bar.