Firefighters in Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa are on high alert as the regions brace for forecast strong winds and hot temperatures.

The horrific Boxing Day death of a 16-year-old boy from South Otago is the year's seventh quad bike fatality.

Rural landowners risk hefty bills for fires that take more than an hour to fight, Wairarapa principal rural fire officer Phil Wishnowsky has warned.

The family of bashed Martinborough firefighter Peter Fisher are thrilled with the progress he is making in rehab and have been told medical staff aim to have him go home on January 7.

Carterton schoolgirl Grace Yeats successfully underwent brain surgery on Wednesday aiming to calm powerful spasms.

An ill-prepared Chilean tourist who got lost while tramping in Mt Holdsworth would have died if he had not had a mobile phone with him, say search and rescue volunteers.

Two rare birds have laid eggs at Wairarapa's Riversdale Beach and a temporary fence has been built to protect them.

Carterton schoolgirl Grace Yeats will today become the first child in New Zealand to receive electrical brain implants to help calm her violent seizures.

Three of Wairarapa's November 14 babies will be celebrating their birthday in style this year - with Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.

A man arrested for carrying drug utensils surprised police by vomiting up a snaplock bag of white powder, thought to be $7000 worth of methamphetamine.