A pair of US tourists had to be rescued by a police search and rescue team after becoming stranded on the banks of the Haast River yesterday afternoon.

A man who left his victim for dead after repeatedly smashing him over the head with a wheelbrace in Hokitika has been jailed for six years and 11 months.

A moderately strong earthquake has struck close to the West Coast town of Te Anau overnight.

A West Coast woman who told a court she could only afford to pay $2 a week to her former landlord was caught out trying to buy $62 of cigarettes by a judge at the supermarket.

Kiwi Bank was today red-faced after discovering that highly confidential documents had been handed across the counter to a member of the public at the Greymouth branch.

Faults off the West Coast are capable of causing earthquakes up to magnitude 7.8, seismic research shows. They are the type that generate tsunamis and it's unknown when they will rupture.

Furious West Coast farmers, one of whom had 96 per cent of his property declared a wetland without his knowledge, say their land is now worthless.

The boulder, measuring about 10m by 10m, crashed onto the road about 1km west of Clarke's Bluff, said NZTA senior asset West Coast manager Mark Pinner.

A West Coast man could have killed or maimed a woman and her young son when he tailgated and then rammed her car high on a bluff on a winding road, a court has heard.

A West Coast man who was shocked speechless when he was declined bail was even more bewildered when he was jailed on his 13th drink-driving conviction.

A Westport man has told a jury the 8.5kg of cannabis police found in his home and vehicle was all for his own use.