Northland news in brief: Colourful quilts on display; and motorbike hits school bus

Herta Jakle with one of her quilts. More great quilts will be on display at the Otamatea Quilters' Group annual exhibition.

The Kauri Museum is hosting the Otamatea Quilters' Group annual exhibition. The display is on from October 23 to November 22. Included in the exhibition are a range of quilts; from entirely hand worked to machine stitched, embroidered and embellished, and from contemporary to traditional, all worked following a common theme – Elements of Design - Repetition. There are 107 quilts on displayed in this year's show. Community quilts are at the heart of the exhibition. This year the Otamatea Quilters' Group have chosen to donate quilts to the Plunket Society. The stroller and cot quilts made for Plunket have been carefully planned around the needs of young families. Quilts will also be on sale.
For further information check out www.kaurimuseum.com/whats-on-item/otamatea-quilters-exhibition-23-oct-22-nov.

Rider seriously hurt

A motorcyclist was seriously injured in a collision with a school bus north of Kaitaia. There were no children at the time on the 20-seater bus, which was on its way to do a school pick-up. The smash occurred at 2.30pm yesterday on State Highway 1 at Te Kao. The rider of the Harley Davidson was initially deemed to be in a critical condition but that was later revised to serious, meaning his injuries were not life threatening. Police, St John Ambulance, Houhora Fire Brigade and the Northland Rescue Helicopter responded. The rider was flown to Whangārei Hospital. Houhora fire chief Warren Bunn said the accident occurred about 1km south of Te Kao on SH1. It appeared the school bus driver was just turning out of his driveway as the motorcyclist was heading south. The bike ended up wedged under the bus. Bunn said there was plenty of local help at the scene with a doctor and staff from Te Kao's medical centre already helping the rider when emergency services arrived.

Bypass crash delays traffic

A crash on the Heritage Bypass caused major traffic disruption around Kerikeri on Tuesday morning. Station officer Andy Hamberger, of the Kerikeri Fire Brigade, said a van towing a trailer had been heading downhill about 8am when it appeared the trailer had fishtailed and flipped the vehicle, which then hit a barrier. Fortunately no one had been injured but traffic was backed up for a considerable distance along Waipapa and Landing roads. The trailer had been carrying a load of timber.

A GP based at Kawakawa's Commercial St Surgery has been recognised for her outstanding contribution to the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioner's Northland Faculty. Dr Tanya Quin, who lives at Ōkaihau, was awarded a distinguished service medal on Tuesday. The College said Dr Quin had been a dedicated member of the faculty's executive committee since 2014, serving as both secretary and treasurer. Her organisational and leadership skills had ensured the popularity of the faculty's annual conference and learning symposia. Dr Quin was involved with general practice workforce planning in Northland and projects addressing critical rural health issues.