Awhitu Lighthouse, on a beautiful peninsula on the south-western shores of the Manukau Harbour, has remarkable views of the coast.

At New Zealand's most famous surf beach - and the birthplace of modern surfing - an environmental battle is being fought on several fronts.

A new book by Shane Boocock features the best of adventure tourism in Auckland.

Canyoning with AWOL Adventures pushes you out of your comfort zone.

The wild west coast is worth a day trip with a couple of stops along the way, writes Libby Nicholson-Moon.

Living in Piha is a dream come true for serious surfers, but it's the sense of community, too, that makes it Craig Levers' favourite place to be. He tells his story to Peta Stavelli.

A teenager is missing, presumed drowned, after he was washed off his boogie board at Piha yesterday.

Police are trying to establish what up to five men were doing on Piha Beach's Lion Rock in the moments before two of them fell 60m.

The first medical officer on the scene after two men fell from Piha's Lion Rock found one man hardly breathing and the other with mangled legs.

The NZ team have been making the most of their limited build-up for the World Junior Surfing Championships beginning in Piha.

Things get a little rough in the conclusion of Graeme Lay's story of the first surfers on one Kiwi beach.

Phoebe Falconer checks out another great summer holiday place within an hour's drive of downtown Auckland.

Sun, sea and the birth of surfing: the second part of a four-part story by Graeme Lay.

The search for a man feared drowned at Piha beach, west of Auckland, continued this morning.

Men and unsupervised children will be the focus of beach safety campaigns this summer.

Tug-of-war practice came in handy for a group of King's Swim Club youngsters yesterday morning when a Land Rover got stuck in the water.

A small cafe which caused a furore, protest and a three-year, $200,000 legal wrangle is now set to open in less than two weeks.