Rhythm and Vines festival organisers are happy a bit of rain isn't going to put off concert-goers.

The Rhythm & Vines crew will be working through the night to get the stage ready for 25,000 festival goers after a truck carrying audio equipment rolled off the road.

Two cars have been involved in a serious crash south of Gisborne.

Police in Gisborne will be cracking down on pre-loading and drink driving over Rhythm and Vines that starts on Saturday.

Situated on a vineyard looking towards Young Nicks Head, the Rhythm and Vines music festival is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month.

A jury has taken just three hours to find a woman guilty of the manslaughter of her partner on Valentine's Day, but cleared her of murder.

Accused murderer Patricia Erica Paton had a "huge egg" on her forehead and a split lip when she hitchhiked to Opotiki on the night her partner died from a stab wound.

A woman who claims she stabbed her partner to death in self defence cried "I killed my man" after she inflicted the fatal wound, a witness has told the High Court.

An armed man wanted in connection with a Gisborne drive-by shooting is still on the run from police.

A man who police say shot at a Gisborne house where two toddlers were living, is on the run and believed to be armed.

Air New Zealand is under fire for its decision to scratch 16 flights a week in and out of Gisborne from December 1.

Two lots of Good Samaritans in Gisborne who helped a man dressed as a woman had their kindness repaid with being robbed.