A dispute between the Pauanui land owner and a golf club about a covenant on the property has gone to the Court of Appeal.

Clear skies are about to surrender to a soggy weekend - with rain starting to fall tonight in Northland before spreading tomorrow to Auckland and the Coromandel.

Cold nights are lit up with fire breathers, tin lanterns and fluorescent faces, finds Catherine Smith.

Head to some of these local gems next time you're visiting the peninsula.

Climb aboard a carriage to appreciate a potter's decades-long labour of love.

This hand-laid, three-kilometre-long railway snakes its way through rugged Coromandel bush terrain to a tower that affords wonderful views out to the Hauraki Gulf.

For further information see: drivingcreekrailway.co.nz

A man was in a serious condition in Thames Hospital last night after his car burst into flames following a crash in Coromandel.

A judge ordered an American man who caused a fatal crash on the Coromandel Peninsula to pay $5500 for emotional harm and told him "this will remain with you forever".

An American man was due to fly home with his wife the day after the vehicle he was driving crossed the centre line, hitting and killing an Auckland woman.

Danielle Wright discovers clubs happy to welcome you in out of the cold.

A man was trapped in his crushed vehicle about 200m down a steep bank for about three hours before he was spotted, emergency services say.

An alleged kidnapper who escaped police custody in Auckland has appeared in court this morning handcuffed and flanked by two police officers.

Police hunting a suspected kidnapper who escaped custody are door-knocking his known associates.

A 23-year-old man arrested over the violent kidnapping of an Auckland woman has escaped custody.

For a fantastic surf or swim, Waihi Beach is the place to be, says Elisabeth Easther.

A man was seriously injured when he fell six metres while canyoning in Coromandel yesterday.

Quick-thinking locals saved the life of a young man whose people mover vehicle went off the road and dropped down a bank into a stream in a remote area of the Coromandel Peninsula, police say.

A very premature baby made a dramatic arrival into the world when he was born with little warning on a remote school paddock in the Coromandel.

A group of beachgoers scrambled to save four people from drowning at a notorious North Island beach.

Elisabeth Easther falls in love with a slice of coastal paradise.

Tairua represents unspoilt Coromandel beauty, writes Elisabeth Easther.