An ill-prepared Chilean tourist who got lost while tramping in Mt Holdsworth would have died if he had not had a mobile phone with him, say search and rescue volunteers.

Two rare birds have laid eggs at Wairarapa's Riversdale Beach and a temporary fence has been built to protect them.

Carterton schoolgirl Grace Yeats will today become the first child in New Zealand to receive electrical brain implants to help calm her violent seizures.

An 18-year-old woman was punched in the face during what appeared to be a random attack in the Masterton McDonald's carpark early yesterday.

A person is in a serious condition after being hit by a bus outside Palliser Estate at the Toast Martinborough wine festival.

A man arrested for carrying drug utensils surprised police by vomiting up a snaplock bag of white powder, thought to be $7000 worth of methamphetamine.

An Australian woman remains in a critical condition in hospital today after a quadbike crash, after the second serious quadbike incident this week.

A 10-year-old boy has died after he was found pinned under a quad bike on a farm in south Wairarapa today.

A man lost a finger and a tooth while tackling a teenager who he believed had stolen his motorcycle, police say.

A woman who admitted falsely claiming more than $90,000 in benefits said she wanted security for her children.

A Wairarapa couple have been sent to prison for more than a year and a half after being found guilty of ill-treating and neglecting their adopted daughter.

The parents of a Wairarapa high school student will be prosecuted for failing to ensure the child's attendance at school after years of ongoing truancy issues.