NZ@Noon: Desperate trees and badly behaved boozers

Rubbish on the sand dunes between Sunrise and Sandhurst Drive. Photograph/George Novak

Bay boozers leave a beach in shambles and a copse of dead trees in Masterton are just two of the stories making headlines around the regions today.

Boozing partygoers have left a "disgusting mess" over Papamoa Beach - prompting a warning from locals to take it back home.

"Desperate", dying trees dot Masterton's town square, much to the disgust of a landscape designer, with only six expected to survive.

A rahui is in place at Uretiti Beach after the body of a missing crabber washed ashore.

Dedicated volunteers will be making the rounds through Rotorua to bring Christmas joy to the less fortunate.

A Castlecliff School teacher has been honoured with a surprise gift from her students.

Summer is officially in Hawke's Bay now the first gannet chick has been spotted in the sun.

And finally, more than 60 special pupils at Kaitaia Primary School have taken to the skies in a piece of aviation history.