Dargaville and the southern Kauri Coast are often overlooked but as Cate Foster finds, the region has hidden charms.

Robbers bashed, bound and robbed a 67-year-old woman in her home in the third aggravated robbery in Kaipara in a month.

Just over a fifth of all working-age Northlanders were on welfare benefits at the end of March.

Two Northland dairy farmers have come up with a novel way to express their boyracer tendencies - from the comfort of their own couch.