The horrific Boxing Day death of a 16-year-old boy from South Otago is the year's seventh quad bike fatality.

Rural landowners risk hefty bills for fires that take more than an hour to fight, Wairarapa principal rural fire officer Phil Wishnowsky has warned.

South Wairarapa District Council has voted to change its policy on shooting unwanted and dangerous dogs, opting for euthanasia by a vet instead.

Carterton schoolgirl Grace Yeats successfully underwent brain surgery on Wednesday aiming to calm powerful spasms.

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.

Three of Wairarapa's November 14 babies will be celebrating their birthday in style this year - with Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.

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.

The death of a 10-year-old boy in a quad bike accident on a south Wairarapa farm has prompted calls for more safety messages aimed at the vehicles.