A Tauranga security guard who tried to hire a hitman to kill his parents has been sentenced to 11 months' home detention.

Wayne Redman clung to the upturned hull of his boat for hours in icy-cold water fearing he might not survive.

Tauranga has been put on the celebrity-pooch map after global superstar Lady Gaga bought a month's worth of dog food from a Tauranga company.

Coffee and Weet-Bix were what a fisherman needed after spending four hours in the cold waters of Tauranga Harbour.

A fisherman missing on the Tauranga Harbour since midnight last night has been found after making his way to shore.

A man caught with a slug gun near a Tauranga Work and Income office this morning told police he intended selling it.

Police are seeking to identify a man who arrived at Tauranga Hospital and was able to give only his first name.

Former cop and convicted rapist Brad Shipton has a rare and aggressive form of dementia.

Silvio Kors' first concern after hearing a loud bang and seeing his windscreen crack while driving was that he'd hit someone.

Video footage of what appears to be a man "car surfing" off the back of a moving car is being slammed by road safety authorities as "incredibly dangerous" and "stupid".

'I'm not saying it'll be a skip in the tulips - but it can be done.' A city councillor in Tauranga believes he won't have to quit if he gets into Parliament at the election.

A 7-year-old boy was flown to Auckland's Starship Hospital in a serious condition last night after being hit by a car in Tauranga's Welcome Bay.

A 7-year-old boy hit by a car in Welcome Bay last night remains in a critical condition at Auckland's Starship hospital this morning.

Tauranga's coroner says "significant and serious failures" in the health care provided at Tauranga Hospital to two patients contributed to their premature deaths.

Helicopter monsoon buckets were yesterday used to clear loose material from above two highways - one of which was closed by an early morning rockfall.

Small town New Zealand does wonderful and whacky to keep up our winter spirits.

Armed police rushed to an incident near Tauranga this morning after receiving reports of someone waving a firearm from a vehicle.

Police and coastguard staff say two tourists who took a drunken early morning harbour swim from Tauranga to Mt Maunganui are lucky to be alive.

A German tourist swam from Tauranga Harbour to Mount Maunganui after a night on the town.

Danielle Wright discovers clubs happy to welcome you in out of the cold.

A young mother who crashed her car into a park bench, catapulting her two children from the bonnet, did not "engage her brain", a court hears.

Severe rain and wind warnings and a drop in temperatures have been issued for parts of the South Island and lower North Island this weekend.

Two children seriously injured in a Bay of Plenty crash that killed their mother will today be released from Starship Hospital and will soon be heading home.

A 58-year-old woman suffered a broken leg when her car left the road in Tauranga, smashing through a fence and falling several metres over a bank into a property below.

A 58-year-old woman suffered a leg fracture when her car left the road in Tauranga, breaking through a fence and falling metres over a bank into a property below.

One of the most infamous battles of the Land Wars has been remembered in Tauranga this morning - the Battle of Gate Pa.