Westport police say they are making progress in identifying who knocked out a local publican and broke his nephew's jaw on Sunday morning.

Labour leader Andrew Little is proposing a new solution to recover bodies in the Pike River coal mine.

The worst of the West Coast's wet weather should be over by dawn tomorrow, says Hokitika weather observer Mark Crompton.

Greymouth funeral director Laurie Anisy was a trainee and just two weeks shy of his 17th birthday when he got word there had been an explosion at the Strongman Mine.

Strongman mine disaster happened 50 years ago next week. Paul McBride catches up with the five surviving members of the Mines Rescue teams.

Northland DHB risks losing $1.5 million in elective surgery funding, chief doctor says

The temperature in Westland has managed to pass the 20C mark only once so far this year.

A West Coast Civil Defence warning of a possible big earthquake on the Coast was a "misinterpretation of the facts" caused by lack of training and understanding, says an independent report.

A Carters Beach family left the seafront yesterday afternoon just minutes before a freak wave flooded the adjacent domain, scattering huge logs like matchsticks.

Shelly Crooks, 36, hasn't been seen since December 22 after telling a friend she was going to hitchhike from Punakaiki to Opotiki.

Doctors' strike at 18 DHBs to disrupt care for thousands of patients

A museum replica of the Seddon family homestead that once stood in Kumara has been suggested for the historic site.

A Westport publican was knocked out, his nephew suffered a broken jaw and a friend was badly bruised in a fracas early yesterday morning.

A minute's silence will be observed in Greymouth on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Strongman Mine disaster which claimed 19 lives.

District health boards are making their final preparations for the three-day strike by unionised resident doctors that starts tomorrow morning.

Next week's 50th anniversary of the Strongman Mine disaster may be the last opportunity for many to remember the 1967 tragedy.

The Kaikoura earthquake badly hit tourism spending in the region but national figures are brighter.

A 58-year-old Dillmanstown man recently sentenced to home detention for drink-driving was arrested in Kumara early today after he cut off his electronic monitoring belt.

Free tourist access to attractions like Punakaiki's Pancake Rocks and the Cape Foulwind seal colony is too costly for ratepayers, says Buller Mayor Garry Howard.

Buller's Old Ghost Road trail is proving so popular one of its huts is already almost booked out for the rest of the summer.

The Franz Josef Glacier heliport is among the busiest in the country with up to one helicopter movement every minute at the peak of season.

Kiwis cautioned after brazen robbery in Bali leaves West Coast woman without passport, travel documents, phone and money cards.

Actor and film director Ian Mune slammed the Government today as he joined protesters at the Pike River Mine entrance.

A Hari Hari woman has branched into tourism with a "floating golf" challenge at the man-made Ross Lake, in the historic Westland gold town.

Well-known director and actor Ian Mune has joined the Pike River families on their picket line.

Hundreds of tourists are milling around downtown Greymouth at weekends and evenings.

The West Coast has held on to its dubious record as the wettest place in New Zealand, albeit in the Southern Alps.

Motorists travelling between the West Coast and Canterbury today were urged to go through Lewis Pass after an early morning fire at

A director of the West Coast water export company - which finds itself at the centre of a public maelstrom 25 years after resource

Three people were injured, one critically, in a two-car collision late yesterday near Lyell, reducing State Highway 6 through the