Police have warned against a "free-for-all" after a shipping container with a cargo of several million cigarettes washed ashore in Devon.

The dolphin watching charter boat that took on water with nearly 40 people on board had a hole in its hull, a crewman says.

Passengers on a dolphin-watching cruise remained calm as they waited to be rescued from a charter vessel that started taking on water north of Auckland this afternoon.

An "earthy taste" in west Auckland's public water supply over the last 24 hours is not harmful to human health, says Watercare Services.

Danielle Wright meets a young crew of waka ama paddlers on the Whau River.

Darryl Rolton wouldn't hesitate to help a mate in trouble. That instinctive nature cost the Christchurch man his life on Saturday when he leapt 11 metres off the Maruia Falls.

Tony Abbott's administration has been accused of being the most conservation-hostile in living memory.

Monthly billing under a strict user-pays policy has driven Aucklanders to cut their water use to the same level as during the severe 1994 drought.

Eyes on the underwater world of New Zealand, photos by Richard Robinson. See more of his photos in this series at www.depth.co.nz.

'Come to our bake sale,' said a member of a group trying to raise $140k for a court appeal against a $950k sewer tunnel project.

All the action from Auckland Anniversary Day's annual regatta.

Gisborne's main water pipe has been reconnected four days after it broke following work by Gisborne District Council staff and contractors from Fulton Hogan.

Plans are in place for the worst-case scenario as Gisborne enters day three of its water crisis.

Commercial and recreational boating has resumed on the Dart River, near Queenstown, following a major slip at Sandy Bluff at the weekend.

A 49-year-old boatie believed to be dead after falling off a boat at the mouth of the Hutt River has been identified as Uikilifi Peniamina.

Gisborne is in a water crisis following a major break in the main trunk pipeline from the dams that supply the city with water.

The search for the body of a 49-year-old Wellington boatie is focused on the eastern coast of Wellington Harbour.

A search has resumed for a man who fell off a boat in Wellington Harbour yesterday afternoon.