A tramper who apparently activated a personal locator beacon because he was running late and wanted a ride to his car has been slammed for wasting time and money.

The brother of an instructor who died after being swept off Taranaki's Paritutu Rock into the sea, says he is not angry with the company his brother worked for.

An injured man was winched to safety after the boat he was in became wrecked on rocks near St Clair, in Dunedin, on Saturday.

Searchers will spend the next two days scouring the shoreline near Bowentown after a man went missing when his boat capsized off the Bay of Plenty coast.

Two boaties have spoken about the moment they came across a family who survived a capsizing that left a father missing off the Bay of Plenty coast.

A Waihi beach fisherman has told of how he found an upside-down boat at Bowentown Heads last night, shortly before a search was mounted for a missing man.

A group of teenage boys have told of an hour-long rescue in which they pulled three struggling swimmers from ferocious seas.

Two Dunedin students rescued from remote bush say the biggest lesson learned from their ordeal is to always carry a locator beacon in the backcountry.

A helicopter was dispatched from Te Anau with a doctor and police staff, but when they arrived at the scene the man was pronounced dead.

When high waves stranded a father and his 8-year-old son on a sheer rock at Whakatane, Chantal Lillas knew exactly what risks she would have to take to reach them.

A man and his eight-year-old son were winched to safety after rising tides trapped the pair on rocks at Whakatane heads this afternoon.

An unnecessary search and rescue callout on New Year's Day has police urging holidaymakers to advise others before starting off on expeditions.

A twenty-year-old who was missing for 24 hours on a mountain battered by severe storms has been found "walking, talking and cold", police say.

A hunter was winched out of a steep ravine by a rescue helicopter after being stranded for a night in bush on the East Coast.

Poor weather today halted an aerial search over one of the last places a tramper who is missing in Kahurangi National Park, near Nelson, could be.

The body of a man recovered from a creek in the Mikonui River area, south of Ross on the West Coast, has been confirmed as that of 50-year-old Christchurch man Rex Leslie Taylor.

Rescue staff are renewing calls for trampers to carry emergency beacons after the partner of a wounded woman descended Mitre Peak and kayaked back to Milford village to raise the alarm.

Specialist cavers and a rescue helicopter will today resume their search for a tramper missing in Kahurangi National Park near Nelson.

Searchers are spending their Christmas holidays scouring some of the most rugged country in New Zealand looking for missing tramper Alistair Levy.

Two trailbikers missing in Upper Hutt last night used petrol from their bikes to build a fire so they could survive a wet night in the Akatarawa forest, police say.

Two mountain bikers reported as missing in Upper Hutt have made contact with police after spending a night in the bush.