NZ at Noon: Strange Lights, Seal Tourist, Big Brother

This seal decided the Whangarei Town Basin was a great place to laze about. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include strange lights in the sky, a seal making itself at home in the middle of Whangarei and two teen stalkers who didn't notice their every move was being watched.

Strange lights are appearing in Hawke's Bay skies and they are apparently not Chinese lanterns.

Two youths who were stalking and robbing women in the Whangarei CBD didn't realise Big Brother was watching.

A seal took time-out to sun itself on a paddle boat at Whangarei Town Basin last week.

The fire brigade had to be called out in Northland following some 9-year-old's game of hide and seek but it wasn't to extinguish any flames.

Here's a new version of a well-known scam.

The worldwide online craze called memes has hit Rotorua schools. "I don't think teenagers will realise the seriousness of their actions until some prosecutions have been made," says a local principal.

Start work now for a new beach body.

Representatives of Hamilton's Japanese sister city has paid a visit.

The principal of a school in one of Tauranga's poorest suburbs is "gobsmacked" that the Social Development minister says measuring poverty is "too difficult because people move in and out of poverty on a daily and weekly basis".

A Hawke's Bay man decided to go for a kayak ride in a fast flowing river with his 4-year-old child without life jackets when the kayak overturned and they were thrown into the freezing water.

Dodgy scrap metal comes in all shapes and sizes in Hawke's Bay.

Farmers in Gisborne are angry.

Meanwhile at least one shop in Gisborne is still selling synthetic cannabis.

Wanganui District Council has placed a price tag of close to $1 million on extending Aramoho Cemetery.

Shaun Francis Stanley was driving round with a P Lab in the boot of his car.

Grant 'Axe' Rawlinson got to thank the crew that saved his sister's life for the first time last Tuesday.

Stratford classic motorcycle enthusiast David Cook got a bit carried away restoring his 1987 Honda GB500.

Rural suicide rates are apparently 50 per cent higher than in the cities.

A 33-year-old Australian man has been found in a semi-conscious drunken state in Wanaka.

Tourism operators should take note of what's causing a boom in tourist numbers in Methven.

Former skinhead gang member Trevor Clarke has been given $1300 by an anonymous benefactor to clean his face.

Golfing identity Ray Kearns died on the 10th hole on the Otago Golf Club's Balmacewen course on Saturday.

Tickets sales to women for Gay Ski Week are up in Queenstown.

After closely monitoring Facebook for signs of trouble, Wanaka police have received no reports of any fights in the area.

In Oamaru, they stay in the same job for a long time. For example freezing worker Mike Edwards and Court registrar Peter Bond.

Meanwhile over on the West Coast, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn says he "still has hope" for the Spring Creek Mine.

Top trending topics on Twitter in NZ at Noon include Afghanistan, #NothingIsBetter, Kiwi, New Zealand, Twitter, Wellington, Australia, Auckland, Facebook and Please.

-HERALD ONLINE