Shane Andrews was riding to work across a bridge when a driver distracted by the swollen Waimakariri River crossed the centre line and knocked him into the river.

Three people were plucked to safety from a liferaft after abandoning their stricken yacht north of New Zealand in a dramatic rescue today.

Strong winds off the coast of Taranaki have pushed trans-Tasman kayaker Scott Donaldson even further from shore.

A kayaker paddling from Australia to New Zealand is making headway again after running dangerously low on supplies and hunkering down in bad weather.

A man who fell 40 metres down a cliff while chasing a wild goat says he's lucky to be alive.

Five men had a lucky escape when the dinghy they were in capsized on the Waikato river.

A kayaker who capsized in wild Northland weather last night was embarking on his usual 10-minute commute home from work.

The search for missing Gisborne man Duncan Munro ended tragically yesterday for his family when his body was found in a remote area on the Mahia Peninsula.

The body of a missing Queenstown woman has been found by searchers in Lake Wakatipu.

A Blenheim man has been rescued in California, thanks to his New Zealand-registered personal locator beacon.

A tramper has been swept away while trying to cross a stream on the Milford Track.

The parents of the German teenagers presumed drowned in Foveaux Strait are returning home and say they know they are leaving their daughters behind.

A kayaker trying to traverse "car-sized boulders" on a trip in the eastern Bay of Plenty sparked a helicopter call-out after slipping and falling into a river.

A French tourist swept away after slipping into a raging Woolshed Creek late on Wednesday was washed over a terrifying two waterfalls before clambering out.

Searchers couldn't believe their eyes when a woman who had been swept away in Woolshed Creek late yesterday afternoon walked out alive last night.

A search is underway for the two occupants of a crashed helicopter on the West Coast.

A search is under way in South Westland for a Nelson woman who has not been heard from in eight days.

Stuck in a rip and being swept out to sea, Ricky Robinson was gasping for air in between throwing up water and being tossed under monster waves.

Three women were spared from spending a night lost in the Kaimai Ranges after being rescued overnight.

A man is in hospital with suspected spinal and chest injuries after tumbling about 30m down a bank while hunting.

It was like MacGyver meets Rescue 1 when a tramper found a badly injured man lying in a stream in the Waitakere Ranges.