When Lieutenant Commander Makoare (Mark) Kohupara Te Kani was posted to the Cook Islands in January 2020 as a maritime surveillance adviser with the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), he expected to travel all over the Pacific. But just weeks into the...
When Alison Crawford received a letter in the mail advising her she was on the New Year Honours list to receive the Queen’s Service Medal, she threw it out. “Those scammers are even targeting Queen’s Services now,” she told her daughter...
Rhythm and Vines is in full swing, with festival director Kieran Spillane saying it was great that every year the Gisborne community was able to grow into a much larger family to celebrate the New Year together. “It’s even more special that this...
Puketoro Station inland from Tokomaru Bay will stage its eighth annual on-farm sale on Tuesday, January 9 with 6000 sheep, 700 15-month-old steers and 40 cows with calves at foot on offer. The auction starts at midday that day, at 2754 Ihungia Road...
Every year has some sort of significance by which people can remember it and 2023 will live in people’s memories as the one where it never stopped raining. Most people throughout New Zealand but especially in this district and Hawke’s Bay, will...
Josiah Brown, Maxim Institute The old adage that “crime doesn’t pay” appears less tenable than it once did. It seems this “truth” is relative, one that depends on the presence and function of certain structures to make lawlessness...
Clive Bibby The editor’s portrayal of the tumultuous last 12 months in this country as something that will have repercussions we may not like is a deluded interpretation of events that were entirely predictable. What does he expect the voters to...
Re: How climate crisis hit home in 2023, December 28 story. Indeed, scientists have been warning us for decades but few seem to take notice and virtually none are making the lifestyle changes needed. The most disturbing parts of this report are the...
2024 is closing in on us fast. I thought it appropriate to share a little of my poetic brain scrapings. If only things were different, what a wondrous world we’d see Where everyone got on, in peace and harmony If only things were different, great...
Gwynne Dyer This year (2023) has probably been the hottest in the past 10,000 years – but everybody agrees that 2024 will be even hotter. That’s because we are now entering El Niño, the part of a seven-yearly oceanic cycle that heaps extra heat...
Boaties and other watercraft users must be extra vigilant about cleaning their vessels and gear before transporting them around the country this summer. The warning from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) comes as concerns mount over the...
A woman thought one of her children was getting into bed with her when she was roused from her sleep early one morning by a dip in the mattress next to her. However, when properly awake, she discovered it was a stranger trying to sexually assault...
A serious message will be behind two new East Coast Farming Expo initiatives when the event is staged in Wairoa in the New Year. The Rural News Cadet Challenge and the Beef+Lamb NZ Station Challenge may have plenty of fun involved but Expo organiser...
The festive period is not just a busy time for Santa and his elves, it is also the busiest time of the year for mobile telecommunications networks. One New Zealand says 2519 TB (Tera Bytes) of data went across its mobile network on Christmas Day and...
A man and a woman were flown to Gisborne Hospital early yesterday afternoon after the ute they were in left the Wharekopae Road, crashed through a fence and went down a bank. The crash happened sometime after 11.30am, past Rere Primary School...
Reports of skinny, pale, and what experts describe as “mushy” snapper in some areas of the country, have not been seen with snapper caught in Tairāwhiti waters, according to a local fishing expert. A New Zealand Herald story yesterday said...
A young mother who openly advertised cannabis for sale to more than 500 people in Facebook Messenger chat groups named things like “Whacked” and “Premium Scores” has been jailed for two years, two months. Riripeta Linda Samuels, 24, wept...
Gisborne City Vintage Railway volunteers were met with a mess to clean up when they arrived at the Gisborne Railway Station on Wednesday morning for the first of their Christmas/New Year public excursion trips on steam train Wa165. Someone had...
The city surf life saving clubs and the Kiwa Pools will be three locations visiting R&V festival-goers will be able to go to keep themselves clean over the festival period. Dawson Building Midway SLSC are offering showers, and phone charging...
An annual raffle has raised more than $16,000 for Hospice Tairāwhiti. A total of $14,810 was raised through ticket sales and another $1820 through donations. “Geoff and Carolyn Taylor, owner/operator Mitre 10 Gisborne, have once again supported...
Two iconic spots to see in the New Year are closed to the public due to damage on access tracks, caused by this year’s weather events. Access to the East Cape Lighthouse will remain closed to the public this summer as the track has sustained...
Artist Troy Conole had been staring at a blank canvas opposite his house at Wainui for decades — a 22-metre timber fence running along the access way to the beach. Motivation to finally start work on a mural on the fence came in the shape of an...
The transformation of Gisborne into fun city central’ has been completed as the 21st R&V Festival kicks into gear and the city bulges at the seams with predominantly young people here for a great New Year. Gisborne’s CBD filled up steadily...
Gisborne’s New Year’s holiday influx is well under way with our roads filling up and city centre bustling yesterday as the gates opened at Waiohika Estate for the 21st Rhythm & Vines. The music festival that has transformed this time of year...
Roger Handford In reply to those who have criticised my observations regarding pine trees, I would repeat it is land use practices which are to blame for our accelerated erosion problems and the associated issues of wood debris. When people cleared...
It has been interesting reading of the measures the public have to take to keep safe. As I was driven up to my family at Wharekopae on Christmas Day, I was horrified at the state of the road — both tarseal and metal. This road is publicised for...
Your paper recently carried an article over concerns about the high levels of Lake Waikaremoana (December 23), where the TUT spokesperson voiced concerns about the environmental impact. Incredibly, this is the same organisation that halted the...
One marker of just how much has changed this year is the fact we started it with Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister. It wasn’t until after the summer holiday, on January 19, that Ardern revealed she was stepping down from politics as she no longer...
Bob Hughes King Charles III is a committed environmentalist with a long history of campaigning for better conservation, organic farming and tackling climate change. He wants to protect the planet for future generations. As Britain’s...
Various correspondents have criticised my letter suggesting a refuge for Palestinians in the Sinai Desert — with the wider world first urgently building the world’s biggest refugee camp, and potentially then upgrading it to a new and pristine...
It is perhaps unsurprising that as our wettest year on record since 1878 draws to a close, Tuesday should deliver one of the heaviest bursts of rain in living memory. A massive raincloud swept over the city from the west, heralded by thunder, and...
by Andrew Ashton The Tairāwhiti Economic Action Plan (TEAP) is set to be updated and presented to the new Government early next year to identify shared regional economic priorities and potential funding support. First launched under the last...
A man was taken to Gisborne Hospital on Tuesday evening after the ute he was driving left State Highway 35 on Tatapouri Hill and hit a water tank about 15-20 metres off the road. The crash happened at around 6.40pm near the camp ground. “The...
by Michaela Gower A jet skier in the right place at the right time saved three people after their kayak flipped off Māhia Peninsula about 9am yesterday morning. The two children and an adult were left clinging to the kayak, with one in the water...