2018 in review: Peter de Graaf's top news photographs

For 40 years Paul Thomas campaigned to have his SAS soldier brother's remains returned from a graveyard in Malaysia to the family urupa near Kaeo. In August 2018 he finally succeeded.

As part of our look back on 2018, the Northern Advocate photographers have put together some of their favourite news, sport and general pics from the year.

Today Far North reporter Peter de Graaf shares a few of his best news photos from 2018, everything from a Kaeo man's long campaign to bring his brother home to a tragic whale stranding and a reggae legend's visit.

Members of the mass haka group Taitokerau Tira Haka welcome guests in the rain at Te Tii Marae in Waitangi, ahead of the first official commemorations of the New Zealand Wars in March.

Warriors Mukai Hura, left, and Isaiah Apiata during a history-making flagpole reconciliation ceremony with Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy in Russell in January.

Henare Hape, at 84 Northland's oldest Māori Warden, shares a joke with newly elected Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during a ground-breaking five-day visit to Waitangi in February.

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff performs at the Bay of Islands Music Festival at Waitangi in March.

Rescuers bid a tearful farewell to a pygmy killer whale which kept re-stranding at Rarawa Beach in November. It was euthanised shortly after this photo was taken.

Volunteers from a human chain at Rarawa Beach in November in an attempt to stop a pod of refloated pygmy killer whales returning to shore. Sadly, only one of the eight creatures survived.

Inmates of Ngāwhā Prison's youth wing perform a rousing haka for their police opponents after a volleyball tournament in June.