Washed up marine creatures, what to do with feijoas and how to feed a family on a budget were the top reads on the Rotorua Daily Post website in 2013.
Our top 20 stories for the year featured a mix of breaking news - car crashes, earthquakes and house fires - as well as stories from our community.
The most read story online was headlined Marine animal video causes stir. It was a story from May about a marine creature which washed up on a Bay of Plenty beach and caused a stir with footage of the creature being posted online.
Two videos of the marine creature were posted on video sharing website YouTube. Information on the videos state the footage was taken on Pukehina Beach recently after violent storms.
"Can anyone identify what it is? It has a huge head and teeth with rudimentary flippers. It seems about 9m in length but the lower part of the body is probably mainly entrails from an attack," it states. Marine mammal expert Anton van Helden was sent the footage by someone at Auckland University and said the creature appeared to be a killer whale.
At number two was 10 things to do with feijoas, a simple compendium of what to do when you have an abundance of the fruit. This story was published in April and featured a range if ideas, such as cocktails, curry and salsa.
Ranked at number three was We were cooking over a candle, the story of Jasmine McPhee cooking for her family of six while living in hardship, which we published in March. At the height of her struggles, the former Rotorua woman, who now lives in South Auckland with her family of six, had her power cut and was forced to cook a can of spaghetti over a candle. Through Facebook she has created an online community. Her page How to Feed a Family of 6 for Under $20 has been a huge hit. It started on February 18 and now has more than 66,000 likes - about 3000 people liked it within two weeks. Mrs McPhee encourages people to send her their budget so she can help plan their meals and make meals suited to them.
Top 20
1) Marine animal video causes stir
2) 10 things to do with feijoas
3) We were cooking over a candle
4) Pedestrian killed: Te Ngae Rd closed
5) Fatal crash near Rotorua
6) He just slipped away while we were singing
7) Boastful burglar was target of man's rage
8) One dead: Rotorua factory blaze
9) Swarm of earthquakes stir Rotorua residents
10) Skull found on construction site
11) Woman flees attacker in busy traffic
12) Councillor Maureen Waaka dies
13) Police storm Tokoroa house
15) Tot's 7km mission to find his father
16) Man tries to snatch girl in driveway
17) Rotorua destiny church pastor shrugs off loss