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.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown has voted to slash funding to the Westpac rescue helicopter service, three days after assuring the service he would sort out a $900,000 funding gap.

The Auckland Council has approved a $14.3 million funding package for 10 regional amenities, which includes a cut for the Westpac helicopter rescue service.

Police searchers have been scouring a small area off the Coromandel coastline for an oil slick in their hunt for a small biplane that disappeared after take off yesterday morning.

A search for a missing small plane which disappeared from radar has been scaled down for the night.

Four things you should know about the ongoing search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

A teenager who became trapped on a steep bluff in the Waitakere Ranges in darkness used the screen light from his cellphone to guide rescuers.

Auckland's rescue helicopter service claims it has been starved of money - but it turns out to be much better off than its fellow charities.

The hunt for four men missing in four separate incidents across New Zealand continues today.

Len Brown has called for a funding board at the centre of a row with the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust to be scrapped after its push to slash funding for the trust.

Members of a board which yesterday agreed to halve funding to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust could find themselves in court.

An experienced caver trapped in an underground cavern overnight on Saturday says the experience was far from an ordeal.

An experienced caver trapped in an underground cavern overnight on Saturday was simply too tall to climb through a narrow passage.

A three-hour search was carried out in Western Bay of Plenty last night after a boat carrying three men was reported overdue.