Donna McIntyre escapes the city on a campervan holiday.

Police have warned retailers about an "erratic and highly strung" offender who robbed a Whangarei dairy at gunpoint yesterday.

A Whangarei man will have to wait to learn if he can avoid a conviction for drink driving so he can take up a professional contract playing rugby in Scotland.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority will formally apologise to a Whangarei family after releasing a report with incorrect information relating to drugs found in a car.

A "stoic old boy" who fell from a stack of hay bales on a remote corner of his Northland farm rode 3km in agonising pain on his quad bike to raise the alarm.

A random act of kindness brought 92-year-old fire victim Pearl Sanger close to tears after she received a signed novel from writer Lee Child, not yet released in NZ.

A Whangarei man jailed for two years and two months for violent offending during a gang feud has been released on parole with strict conditions.

A female dial-a-driver was thrown from the vehicle she was called to drive home after a drunk driver tried to steal it in Whangarei.

Gang members hindered emergency staff who were searching for a missing person following a house fire in Whangarei overnight.

A mental health worker was savaged about the head and neck during an attack by two dogs while she visited a client in Whangarei.

The body of a man found in the Hokianga Harbour will be released to his family for burial as soon as his identity is confirmed.

A domestic violence victim whose partner took her phone so she couldn't call police managed to raise the alarm via Facebook instead.

The wasabi sauce wasn't the only hot food item at a Whangarei sushi joint - the paua being used was also hot, having been bought illegally.

Police have officially named one-year-old Atreyu Taylor-Matene, the Whangarei youngster at the centre of a homicide investigation.

A man who admitted causing the death of a motorist can't remember what happened in the few seconds his car veered across State Highway 1 last year.

A small bay in Northland could be filled in to create a boat ramp to accommodate the number of boats launched off the beach over a few weeks in summer.

A giant petrel taken back to sea after being rescued on a west coast beach was in no hurry to test its freedom - the bird hung around the release boat for two hours before finally deciding to fly away.

An off-duty policeman tailed a stolen car until other officers and armed offenders squad members stopped and arrested the man who was wanted after a knife-point robbery.

Police have carried out a blitz on truancy in Whangarei, where nearly a third of students at some schools are absent at any given time.

A Whangarei man who was part of an elaborate plan that included robbing a tavern and later targeting Asian families in Auckland has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in jail.

A drunk Whangarei man held his teenage daughter in his room and attacked her with a machete after she refused to let him have more wine.