NZ at Noon: Jump-ramp loo and the bard from Kamo

Mountain bikers will get to enjoy a new toilet block at the Waipa carpark, which will double as a jump ramp.

Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include a proposed toilet that mountain bikers can do jumps over, troubles insuring houses built before 1935 and the owner of AJ's Lotto is "pretty excited".

Rotorua's council is spending nearly half a million dollars on a "jump ramp" toilet for mountain bikers but plans for the toilet raised 5.5m up in a redwood forest canopy have been dumped.

Insurance companies are apparently declining to insure houses built before 1935.

The owner of AJ's Lotto, Jensen Zeng, is "pretty excited" about selling a $27 million Lotto ticket.

Whangarei mum Cathy Holman remembers blood starting to pour from her nose and calling for help, but nobody was around.

Russell was virtually a ghost town yesterday. Meanwhile a barber in Kamo is now an award winning bard.

Only a handful of people were in the Keri Keri gym when a ceiling light caught fire.

If you are buying meat in pubs, you may be lining the pockets of rustlers. Meanwhile the Rangitatau East Road Community Group have just completed their first prosecution of rustlers.

Tony Danza joins a star-studded list of people not to have died in New Zealand, including Robert Duvall, Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise.

A Whangarei woman has been issued with a "cooling down" order after throwing a brick at her partner's car.

A 46-year-old collapsed and died yesterday walking past Yatton Park in Greerton at 3pm.

Graeme Kelly has built what is believed to be the longest truck on the road in New Zealand.

A Western Bay teenager has had his car impounded.

This is the value of smoke alarms.

Paul Holmes' Jeep Cherokee was stolen by two men in a "humanitarian dash to Taupo".

A group of family members have been sentenced for burgling a 2 Degrees store with a tomahawk and chilly bin.

The Rakautaua Trust 9 has given bach owners at the Whangaehu River mouth 100 days to vacate and remove their dwellings.

The impact of alcohol is apparently destroying families and causing child poverty.

The iwi of Lake Waikaremoana says it will not be pushed aside.

Michael Robert Pollard had "lost the plot temporarily" when he "wished to destroy his car by crashing it".

In Masterton, an elderly woman's groceries were stolen from the Pak'n Save carpark.

The parents of a Kuranui College pupil are facing prosecution for failing to ensure their child went to school.

A double house blaze in Tinwald is believed to have been started by a four-year-old playing with a lighter.

The global financial crisis has apparently hit sheep farmers hard.

Meanwhile having polluted winter air has reportedly proved a winner for Ashburton.

Dunedin has recorded the largest fall in house prices of all New Zealand's main centres.

A semiconscious woman has been pulled out of a van which burst into flames.

Another teenager has decided to go for an alcohol-fuelled joyride around Dunedin.

Concerns have been raised after a seismic survey on the ANZ building in Waimate.

Meanwhile Greymouth's Lockwood show home has headed north across the Cobden Bridge.

Top trending topics on Twitter in NZ at noon were: #SongsIListenToWhenImSad, #iPhone5, #IHateTheWord, iPod touch, Happy Birthday Niall, John Banks, #Apple, #theridges, #nzwine and New Zealand.