A kayaker paddling from Australia to New Zealand is making headway again after running dangerously low on supplies and hunkering down in bad weather.

A man who fell 40 metres down a cliff while chasing a wild goat says he's lucky to be alive.

An urgent aid mission will get underway today to drop vital supplies to a kayaker attempting a solo trip across the Tasman Sea.

Five men had a lucky escape when the dinghy they were in capsized on the Waikato river.

A kayaker who capsized in wild Northland weather last night was embarking on his usual 10-minute commute home from work.

The search for missing Gisborne man Duncan Munro ended tragically yesterday for his family when his body was found in a remote area on the Mahia Peninsula.

A tramper has been swept away while trying to cross a stream on the Milford Track.

The parents of the German teenagers presumed drowned in Foveaux Strait are returning home and say they know they are leaving their daughters behind.

Deep in a glacier crevasse with a broken arm and ankle, Sabine Hellenbrandt expected to take her last breath trapped in the ice. Then she heard members of the South Westland Alpine Cliff Rescue call to her.

A kayaker trying to traverse "car-sized boulders" on a trip in the eastern Bay of Plenty sparked a helicopter call-out after slipping and falling into a river.

A French tourist swept away after slipping into a raging Woolshed Creek late on Wednesday was washed over a terrifying two waterfalls before clambering out.

A search is underway for the two occupants of a crashed helicopter on the West Coast.

A search is under way in South Westland for a Nelson woman who has not been heard from in eight days.

Stuck in a rip and being swept out to sea, Ricky Robinson was gasping for air in between throwing up water and being tossed under monster waves.

Three women were spared from spending a night lost in the Kaimai Ranges after being rescued overnight.

A man is in hospital with suspected spinal and chest injuries after tumbling about 30m down a bank while hunting.

It was like MacGyver meets Rescue 1 when a tramper found a badly injured man lying in a stream in the Waitakere Ranges.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown has voted to slash funding to the Westpac rescue helicopter service, three days after assuring the service he would sort out a $900,000 funding gap.

The Auckland Council has approved a $14.3 million funding package for 10 regional amenities, which includes a cut for the Westpac helicopter rescue service.

Police searchers have been scouring a small area off the Coromandel coastline for an oil slick in their hunt for a small biplane that disappeared after take off yesterday morning.

A search for a missing small plane which disappeared from radar has been scaled down for the night.

Four things you should know about the ongoing search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.