Police say they have been advised of heavy traffic on State Highway 25 as Easter weekend holidaymakers head back to Auckland.

With so much to see and do in Thames Libby Nicholson-Moon vows to return soon to take it all in.

People in northern and eastern areas of the North Island are being advised to take precautions as heavy rains threaten to sweep across those regions tonight and tomorrow, with a possibility of flooding in coastal and low-lying areas.

A summer boating holiday ended yesterday in a cloud of black smoke and two burned-out shells on the side of the road.

Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen a man and a woman walking away after a man was stabbed in Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula on New Year's Day to come forward.

Police believe they have found the body of missing Auckland man Cem Erbay, 19, in the Coromandel.

Queues of New Year's Eve traffic are beginning to build around the country.

Cate Foster is ready to wear the crown of river queen as she takes a leisurely ferry cruise.