Radiant summer weather made a brief call to the North Island at the weekend, attracting hardy bathers into the still-cool water at beaches and creating a run on icecream.

Andrew Alderson stays at a classic Kiwi cottage on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Susan Buckland gets in some bird-watching at Miranda's sanctuary.

Four of the best parks and outdoor spaces to take your kids.

Three people managed to swim to safety when their car crashed into the Waikato River this morning.

A drunk driver and his passenger were found drinking in a car that was seen weaving wildly across a road, narrowly missing a group of cyclists.

Hours before he opened fire on police, the man at the centre of a shooting in a tiny Waikato village was going about life as usual.

A 7-year-old boy who was bored while visiting his dad at Waikato Hospital started spending his own pocket money on activity packs for sick children but needs more help.

The home of a 49-year-old Meremere man is under guard while Waikato police investigate his death.

Elisabeth Easther visited her turangawaewae and learned that lemurs are lovely and Cambridge's river trails are superb.

If you're in a aquatic frame of mind, check out these great on-water excursions.

Two people have died in a two vehicle crash in Waikato.

Thirteen people were treated for injuries after a crash between a car and a van on the Waikato Expressway, just 1km south of the Meremere Dragway this afternoon.

There are cultural symbols aplenty in the kiwiana capital of New Zealand, writes Elisabeth Easther.

Even with three kids in tow, Rob Cox manages to have a ball in Rotorua and Ruapehu.

A woman who was drink-driving with an unrestrained young child standing in the car has been slammed by police for her "appalling and distressing" actions.

A 14-year-old boy who died when a car crashed into a power pole on Te Atatu Peninsula this morning, injuring two 16-year-olds, has been named.

One person is dead after a vehicle rolled in Waikato this morning.

Police have stopped and ticketed several drivers speeding past schools this week - including a high school teacher and a father with his pre-school aged daughter in the back.

Which town looks set to keep its crown as New Zealand's sunshine capital? A new climate report shows one place well out in front.

A surgeon at Waikato Hospital was surprised to find a patient he was treating in the emergency department was the man he trained under nearly 20 years ago.