A Kumeu cafe has been gutted by a fire which took hold overnight.

A truck driver whose vehicle was in a collision with a freight train at Kumeu yesterday was in a critical but stable condition in Auckland City Hospital last night after surgery.

New Zealand's wine sector is showing signs of a profit turnaround but is still not producing financial returns which would be acceptable to investors.

In the car on the way back to town, I asked the others how they'd star-rate the meal we'd just had and why.

In Auckland's rural west, Kumeu is lavishly blessed with appetite-teasing treats.

Cate Foster gets on her bike and enjoys the trails of Woodhill Forest - and the refreshment waiting at the end of her journey.

Oh the joy when my fine doctor, William Fergusson, told me there was a new French restaurant in Kumeu.

Long Italian lunches are compulsory at this beautiful and productive Mediterranean-style estate.

Delicious cheese is a serious business at Crescent Dairy Goats farm in Kumeu, writes Phil Parker.

Marketing language can be flowery, but for once they're right; this car really does sound like a choir of angels. Or at least the atonal church organ reverb that heralds a cinematic spiritual moment - and sets the air alive with sound.

Meet the new batch of contestants for New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker.

Think you have a way with words? Put your talent to good use and enter our caption competition - and don't forget to check back for the latest photos.

Three teenage boys have been praised as heroes for their actions after a serious collision.

A young man is dead after his car crossed the centre line and was partially crushed under a school bus carrying 21 teenagers.

One person was killed and two critically injured when a car collided with a school bus near Kumeu, west of Auckland, this afternoon.

A young girl is 'extremely shaken' after a man attempted to kidnap her in Kumeu yesterday.