After falling down a 10m deep sinkhole and landing on the remains of dead animals, Jill Clendon's first thoughts focused on whether she had broken any bones.

A wife dived into pitch-black sea to rescue her drowning elderly husband after hearing him fall from their boat.

Police have released the name of the Gisborne man who is missing, believed drowned, after Monday night's kayaking tragedy at Pouawa.

The search for a man who reportedly fell off rocks in the Bay of Plenty into the sea about 5pm yesterday is being scaled back.

A 25-year-old French tourist spent a cold and wet night "hunkered down" in the bush near the Routeburn Track on Tuesday night.

An Australian tourist sparked a full-scale search operation in Waikato yesterday - with a helicopter search by police eventually locating him sunbathing at a beach.

A 49-year-old boatie believed to be dead after falling off a boat at the mouth of the Hutt River has been identified as Uikilifi Peniamina.

Grieving family members have identified the body pulled from a Wairarapa river as that of a missing 19-year-old swimmer.

The search for the body of a 49-year-old Wellington boatie is focused on the eastern coast of Wellington Harbour.

A father and son have been found safe and well this morning after spending a night in a at the base of a cliff following a kayaking trip that went wrong off the Canterbury coast.

Forensic experts will try to identify the body of a man found on a walking track in the Coromandel as public appeals fail to shed any light.

Police are trying to identify the body of a man found on a walking track near Tairua in the Coromandel this afternoon.

Family of a boy missing after falling into the Whakatane River are holding a silent vigil on the river bank this morning.

The Auckland Coastguard is usually the first point of contact when things go wrong out at sea.

A 15-year-old boy who suffered a serious head injury in the Tararua Ranges near Wellington yesterday has been airlifted out this morning after bad weather prevented rescuers from moving him sooner.

A person has been found dead after falling from a fishing vessel off the coast of Napier.

Police have found the Waipu woman who went missing from her home last night.