NZ at Noon: Unusual currency and tsunami in Napier?

Freedom Hunters team Tish McNicol, and brother and sister combo Finn and Chessie Henry.

Stories making headlines around the regions include three friends heading off overseas with an unusual currency and tsunami effects in Napier.

Three Otago University mates are preparing to travel across Europe with no money and just24 cans of Red Bull in tow.

Chile's major earthquake on Wednesday had effects that reached as far as Napier.
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A Masterton dog owner appeared in court after his animal was found to be 22 per cent below the expected weight of a healthy dog.

A Tauranga Art Gallery exhibition and "a worthwhile and fun project" at the Rotorua museum earned the two institutions prizes at this year's New Zealand Museum Awards.

Meanwhile, a wanted Northland woman claimed she had not turned herself in for fear of being beaten up by gangs in jail.

And finally, a Rotorua woman celebrated her

100th birthday

despite a mistake printed on her passport.

Ngar Wong celebrates her 100th birthday. Photo / Stephen Parker