Catherine Smith looks at some of the new facilities and activities on offer in Auckland's regional parks.

Dionne Christian is cleared for a nervous lift-off on a Rotorua eco-adventure tour.

Recognition just proves what Coasters have always known, says local mayor.

Some of the best spots to visit on the West Coast - named as one of the top 10 regions to visit in 2014 by Lonely Planet's Best in Travel.

Chorus shares have kept tumbling this morning, falling 10 per cent in early trading.

In New Zealand we have our fair share of adventurers and the wives who go with them. And I'm sure they, too, are pesterers.

There's something rather heart-warming about the growing popularity of the "living wage" movement, writes Brian Rudman. Despite three decades of market economic indoctrination, NZ's underlying sense of fairness and decency remains intact.

The response was swift and pretty much universal: this was appalling, stomach churning, almost certainly criminal, writes Toby Manhire.

Councils are being blamed for the high cost of building New Zealand houses, ahead of the role played by manufacturers.

Be it in the corporate, political or sporting worlds, rarely has there been a comfortable alliance between the top two in the hierarchy.

Charities are bracing themselves for an influx of more than 40,000 struggling Kiwi families who can't afford to serve Christmas dinner or put presents under the tree this year.

Watch the 2013 Critics' Choice Prize Showcase back in full, thanks to Spotify and Vodafone.

Featuring performances and interviews with Paquin, Janine and the Mixtape and Sheep, Dog and Wolf.

Originally streamed live from Auckland's Kings Arms Tavern on November 6th 2013.

The Hallenstein Brothers Critics' Choice Prize is part of the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.

Black swans run over by a boat, a pet sheep bashed and set on fire, and fowl found stuffed in a chest of drawers have topped the SPCA's 2013 List of Shame.

A Christchurch couple has returned from a trip to Japan to visit the family of a student they hosted who was killed in the February 2011 earthquake.

The Government caucus has only 14 women, only 24 per cent of its 59 MPs, resulting in a Parliament, as a whole, in which only 32 per cent of MPs are women, writes Brian Rudman.

Three artists are vying for the Critics' Choice Prize tonight. We'll be running profiles on each leading up to the event, which will be livestreamed on nzherald.co.nz. Today, it's Janine and the Mixtape.

Three artists are vying for the Critics' Choice Prize on Wednesday night. We'll be running profiles on each leading up to the event, which will be livestreamed on nzherald.co.nz. Today, it's Paquin.

To accept the idea of being under constant observation is to accept imprisonment - ironically by the Land of the Free, writes Chris Barton.