MasterChef NZ fans had a treat at the weekend's Tauranga Farmers Market as contestant Hayley Bilton offered punters a cooking demonstration.

As part of the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal, reporter Sonya Bateson is at the foodbank to volunteer for a morning and was assigned to make up little bags of milk powder for the food parcels.

Black, squat and brimming with muscle, the exciting new generation of RNZAF pilot trainers met New Zealand's fastest feathered bird in a unique celebration of flight at Tauranga Airport.

Tauranga was treated to a grand display as the popular Diwali Festival made its mark in Tauranga for the first time.

The Orange Day Parade celebrates the important contribution students have made to road safety within their school communities throughout the year.

Amelia Dawe, 14, who has been a student at the Dance Education Centre in Matua since she was eight, said she started doing ballet at three at Tauranga's Susanne Hanger Dance Ballet School after watching her older sister dancing

Singers Ria Hall and Teraania Ormsby-Teki wrote a specially commissioned waiata, Takiri Ko Te Ata, to open the Tauranga Arts Festival for 2015. It was at the Tauranga waterfront at 7am on October 22.

A giant fortress of light on the Tauranga waterfront is impressing Bay residents who have taken a peek at the world's latest luminarium, called Arboria.

Walking the 3500km Appalachian Trail, Max Mason encounters black bears, snakes, a stabbed hiker, and a woman with a titanium leg called Bionic. He talks to Juliet Rowan about adversity, camaraderie, and insights into mind, body, spirit and nature he gained during his six-month trek in the American wilderness.

Annemarie Quill abseils down the Regional House building to raise money for Foundation for Youth Development.

Huge amounts of water pour over McLaren Falls in the Kaimai Ranges near Tauranga after the storm that soaked the North Island.

An injured fisherman trapped on rocks at Waihi Beach has been saved with help from the air.

Waikato easily beat a disappointed Bay of Plenty Steamers team 43-10 at Tauranga Domain on August 30. Video/George Novak