The final formal event of the year for the Doubtless Bay Croquet Club before Christmas featured a number of highlights which all hit that special 'G-spot' according to club reporter Peter Hatnall in his report on the day's proceedings.

Have you ever gone fishing and come back empty-handed? Have you ever been snorkelling and there's not much to see?

There was a time when those in trouble on the water off the far northern east coast could expect help to arrive in the form of locals using their own boats.

A 52-year-old woman died yesterday after a one-vehicle crash on State Highway 10, near the top of Kaeo Hill.

Life changed in an "absolute instant" when 44-year-old Deanna (Dee) Trevarthen was told she was suffering pleural mesothelioma (asbestos cancer). Just months earlier she had been undergoing fertility treatment in the hope of conceiving.

Owen Finlayson could afford to grin on Saturday afternoon.

A mixture of Santa, antiques and the odd pair of jandals was a winning formula for Shackleton's Unichem Pharmacy in this year's Christmas window-dressing competition in Kaitaia.

Northland Waste, which has the Far North District Council's waste and recycling contract in the north of the district, is once again reminding residents that only pre-paid rubbish bags or the contents of wheelie bins will be collected from the kerb.

Police are still investigating a major fire west of Ngawha on Sunday, but principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor has already labelled it the result of a "blatant act of stupidity".

A 33-year-old man died when the vehicle he was driving crashed through a farm fence on Duncan Road, between Kaingaroa and Fairburn, and rolled multiple times down an almost sheer drop on Sunday morning.

With Australia making much of its domination over New Zealand in the recent test cricket series, one Far North man has done his bit to pull the ledger back in favour of the right side of the ditch by winning the Australian windsurfing championship.

The organisers of the NAKFA 7-a-side social football competition have issued their traditional challenge to other local sporting organisations to give the gift of sport this Christmas.

Kaikohe's 25 Squadron ATC (Air Training Cadets) has wrapped another year with a double-banger.

For the last eight months, since I was elected as the Te Hiku constituency councillor on the Northland Regional Council, I have driven over 7000 kilometres in trips to and from council meetings, mostly in Whangarei, one, two and sometimes three times a we

Police are still hunting the person who stabbed a police officer in Kaitaia on Monday night.

A team of young swimmers represented the Bay of Islands Swimming Club at the Auckland Junior Championships in Henderson last month.

A selection of Northland's most promising secondary school athletes will meet with, hear and soak up some highly valuable advice from Emirates Team New Zealand crew members at the inaugural ASB Performance Pathway event in Whangarei today.

It was billed as A Kiwi Christmas, and Pompallier Catholic School in Kaitaia certainly delivered on that last week.

I have received a very nice letter from the Honourable Simon Ten Bridges, together with his photo to remind me what a dashing, fresh-faced young man he really is.

Life on the farm is rarely as idyllic as it is generally portrayed for our entertainment, but the images that have gained worldwide attention courtesy of covert filming in the Waikato by animal advocacy group Farmwatch are utterly abhorrent.

The one thing Rodger Beatson has not experienced a great deal of in his 70 years is down time.

Caroline Fitzgerald is working on a documentary about the history of whaling in the Far North, and is keen to hear from anyone who may have taken video footage or photographs of the stranding of a 12-metre sperm whale at Cooper's Beach.

Banning power boats from the water and vehicles from the margins are two immediate steps that have been taken in a bid to save the best known of the very Far North's dune lakes.

The last Thursday in November was also the last night for the Doubtless Bay Croquet Club's annual business house competition.