Waihi, New Zealand News

Photo: Claire De Barr. The Twin Star is towed to a hangar after making an emergency landing due to a smoking engine.

Ratepayers in the Western Bay of Plenty face an average 4.1 per cent rates increase but some face a bill increase of 56 per cent.

Ngati Manawa representatives Ema Kalman and Maurice Toetoe signing the Central North Island Deed at Parliament last year.

About 50 residents of a village on the shores of New Zealand's Lake Taupo who were evacuated after earthquakes threatened to unleash a landslide were given the all-clear Thursday to go home.

Nine households have been evacuated from a town north of Gisborne due to rising river levels.

A small privately-owned twin-engine airplane was forced to make an emergency landing at Tauranga Airport this morning after its engine caught fire while flying over Waihi.

Waihi village residents may not know for several days whether they can return to their homes.

About 50 residents of a small village on the shores of New Zealand's Lake Taupo were preparing Tuesday to spend a second night away from home as a massive landslide threatened to sweep away their houses.

A no-go area is likely to be imposed on the southwest edge of Lake Taupo later today because of the threat of a major landslide above tiny Waihi Village, Civil Defence said today.

The Lake Taupo village of Waihi continues to be threatened by a potential landslide with more small earthquakes recorded over Monday night.

Backers of the Waihi Gold Discovery Centre are adamant it is not on shaky ground, despite geological reports suggesting it will be constructed on land prone to "slow creep" movements.

The search for an Auckland man missing for three days in the Bay of Plenty continues today.

Police and search and rescue volunteers are looking for a man missing in bush for two days.

Emergency services are at the scene of a road crash in which a person has died. It happened on State Highway 25A, on the Kopu-Hikuai Road near Thames.

What began as an attempt by Howard Chappel to prop up his failing business for a couple of months by filing false hire-purchase documents to his finance company snowballed into a $852,990 debt.

A 22-year-old Waihi mother is suffering panic attacks and refuses to venture into public alone after she was brutally raped on the roadside while attempting to hitchhike from Waihi to Tauranga.

Under $300 Spend a few winter days by the water at Waihi Beach Lodge. A two-night package that includes breakfasts, fresh fruit, chocolates, a bottle of bubbly, an hour's massage and a $100 meal voucher for The Porch Cafe costs $295 each, double-share. Extra nights are $75 each.

Shellfish in Tauranga Harbour and Waihi Estuary are often contaminated with viruses and bacteria to the point where they become unsafe to eat, a study has revealed.

Police have sealed off a road in the western Bay of Plenty gold-mining town of Waihi after a water main burst this morning, creating a hole big enough for a car.

Graeme Bagrie speaks in the relaxed drawl of a contented man. He has the weathered face of an outdoorsman and the fitness of a keen cyclist, honed by regular visits to the Tour de France via a stationary bike linked to a computer console in his spare room.