NZ at Noon: Powerful rips and petrolheads

Murray Hosking of Kerikeri gives his 1923 T-Bucket a last polish ahead of Saturday's show with help from Kurbside Rodders secretary Roz Adams. Photo / Peter De Graaf

Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include a powerful rip causing havoc at Mount Beach, the minimum wage and a block of cheese and petrolhead heaven in the Mid North this weekend.

A surfer, who spent two hours struggling in rough conditions, was one of 10 people rescued on Saturday as powerful rips emerged on Mount Main Beach.

A paltry rise of 25 cents an hour in the minimum wage apparently wouldn't even buy struggling families a block of cheese.

This weekend will be petrolhead heaven in the Mid North.

A cigarette is thought to be behind a fire that came close to spreading into pine trees at Omokoroa.

An estimated crowd of 30,000 headed to the Rotorua Lakefront's Village Green for the city's annual free show.

A drought declaration is expected for Gisborne and the East Coast within 10 days.

Ten years after Philip Cowan was murdered, an anonymous phone call to his parents has resulted in new information.

Wairarapa Wines' seventh annual Harvest Festival at Gladstone riverside was a sell-out with thousands gathering to enjoy some of the best Wairarapa food and wine.

Trans-Tasman Resources has commissioned a survey of attitudes to its plans to mine ironsand off the South Taranaki coast.

An 18th birthday party descended into an out-of-control brawl in Oamaru on Saturday night.

Mystery surrounds a fleeting visit to Dunedin by arguably the world's most sophisticated sub-sea exploration vessel yesterday.

Some ratepayers have called for Mayor Maureen Pugh to stand down after the Westland

District Council revealed a $5.1 million budget blowout.

Top trending topics on Twitter in NZ at noon were #WSWvNIX, Black Sox, #Laugh, #nzveng, New Zealand, England, Blues and Wellington.

Other stories making headlines in NZ at noon:

Seeing heroes up close
Teen in court charged with assault
Police horrified at actions of Tauranga youths
Contest sees big surf, bigger business
Bay couple and boat rescued from beach
Journey of a lifetime to end sailing career

-nzherald.co.nz