In the development heyday of the 1950s, holiday homes shot up on narrow, sandy fingers of land around New Zealand's coastline.

Liquor bans are in place and police numbers are being boosted in many of the traditional New Year's Eve hot spots.

Lifeguards have closed Mt Maunganui beach after a surfer's close encounter with a shark.

A mother dog howled all night after she fished her six dead puppies out of an estuary after they had been dumped in a shopping bag.

The family who adopted Trooper - the puppy that was rescued after being found outside the Gate Pa shops, in Tauranga, with its ears chopped off - say he is settling in to his new home very well.

Santa Claus is coming to town - and the weather is looking fantastic for his long ride down from the North Pole.

The pit bull puppy found in a Tauranga shopping area with his ears chopped off will head to a loving new home today.