A pod of 66 pilot whales beached west of Nelson yesterday swam off on the high tide overnight, DOC says.

Bronwyn Sell enjoys a girls' weekend away with a difference - a walk and wine in the Coromandel's Kauaeranga Valley.

NZ's forest ecosystems are the second most threatened in the world and house only 5 per cent of their original habitat, according to an international report.

Is the Kiwi love affair with roughing it going through a tough patch? Lisa Bradley reports.

Every year a Navy ship is selected to lead the Auckland Anniversary Regatta. Loaded with VIPs and Navy crew, the vessel becomes the guard ship for the regatta and is the platform from which races are started.

A baby seal which was attacked in West Auckland on Monday night has been put down.

If you've run out of ideas to keep yourself busy these holidays Julie Harries has a novel idea guaranteed to get the suggestions flowing.

In principle the Conservation Department wants as many of the public as possible to enjoy the estate their taxation maintains. In practice, it is not very good at making that possible.

DOC staff have killed 10 pilot whales which survived the stranding of a pod of 24 in Parengarenga harbour in the Far North.

A set of "absolutely disgusting" toilets at the entrance to one of New Zealand's best short walks has drawn complaints that they are a blight on tourism.

Handing Department of Conservation campgrounds to private companies to run will turn them into "canvas subdivisions", says Labour's tourism spokesman Kelvin Davis.

DoC is in talks about handing over camping grounds to private companies to run them at a profit.

Four whales stranded at Port Waikato yesterday are to be buried in sand dunes just metres from where they lay.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad has announced police are all but giving up hope of recovering the remains of the 29 Pike River miners.

Four adult whales have died after beaching themselves at Port Waikato but Conservation Department staff have successfully refloated a fifth.

The heads of police and the Department of Conservation will deliver news in person today to the families of the 29 dead workers in the Pike River mine.

Greedy campers are rorting the Department of Conservation online booking system to give themselves more room.

With a tent and an airbed packed into his Mercedes-Benz, Jurgen Karl Ahrens made the New Zealand outdoors his home.

Who are we really fighting for access to our beaches? Herald journalist Yvonne Tahana and photographer Richard Robinson took to the road to find out...

Police and DOC investigations are continuing into the massacre of fur seals at Ohau Point, a popular seal viewing point 22km north of Kaikoura.

More signs will be installed at Rotorua's Kuirau Park as a safety measure following the death of a 10-year-old boy last week.

Fisheries officials are investigating the death of hundreds of snapper washed up on Coromandel beaches.