Stories by Peter de Graaf

A total of 1200 anglers from every corner of the motu took part in this year's Ninety Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza.

A decision to continue allowing vehicles on beaches in the Catlins will be revisited after an endangered sea lion was harassed by motorists.

The $30,000 big prize is one lure, but there's so much more to attract competitors to the Far North.

Far North firefighters are battling another major fire, this time in grass and scrub south of Kaikohe.

The January tornado left two people seriously injured and damaged 35 homes.

A 14,000-signature petition against a proposed fast-tracked sand mining operation off Northland's Bream Bay is due to be handed over at Parliament on Wednesday. Audio

The 63-year-old is accused of murdering Yvonne Chapman, 66, at Beach Road Reserve in the seaside suburb of Onerahi.

A major clean-up is underway at Northland's Waipoua Settlement as residents return after last week's ferocious forest fire.

The bizarre wildlife encounter, which occurred around lunchtime off Cape Brett, knocked one of the boaties over and left him bruised.

The number of firefighters will be doubled to 100 tomorrow to help "hit this very hard".

No homes have been lost and no one has been injured.

Speculation in the Far North as to what happened ranges from an amateur house-moving attempt gone horribly wrong to an extraordinarily brazen theft attempt.

A proposed housing development in Kerikeri could add as many as 3000 new homes to the Bay of Islands boom town - almost doubling the current 8000-strong population.

Part of the protected Kaimaumau Wetland has been drained illegally and will take up to 10 years to recover, a local farmer and expert says.

Fewer than 40 New Zealand fairy terns survive - making it six times rarer than the kākāpō, which is often treated as the "poster bird" for our most endangered species.

Dutch paddler Koos Wabeke says getting involved with kaupapa waka - and learning about the Māori world - has changed his life.

Free car parks have been set up in Haruru, near Paihia, for people to make use of the free shuttle buses.

Police have charged a 20 year old with murder after the death of 18-year-old motorcyclist Kyle Jenkins in Northland.

It may be the final nail in the coffin of a a project that's sharply divided the small community for nearly five years.

The twister would have killed people if it had struck during the day instead of 3am, Mark Mitchell says.

In emails, chief medical officer urged Health NZ head to make the call: "There comes a point where we have to recognise that we have reached the limit of our actions."

DOC is considering revising trap standards after the bird's bill was caught and it was killed.

A senior Northland doctor was so worried about a lack of medical staff in Dargaville overnight she was convinced it was too risky to keep the town's hospital open.

Mangawhai has been compared to a war zone, with houses destroyed, roofs torn off, debris scattered across roads and power poles ripped out.

There was supposed to be an open home at 81-year-old Alan Johnson's house on Sunday, but it had been torn to shreds during the storm that hit Mangawhai overnight.