Up to $10,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on a rescue in Northland over the weekend for a group of Aucklanders "who were not in real danger", police say.

The principal of a Far North Maori language school has been censured and struck off for having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Far North iwi say they plan to limit access to Ninety Mile Beach for cars and tour buses after their Treaty agreement is passed into law.

Deep within the Hokianga is a quiet settlement adrift from the rat race, writes Hannah Sperber.

Be sure to check out these terrific spots next time you're up north.

This coastal town serves up more than scrummy fish and chips, writes Elisabeth Easther.

A great boys' trip up north is about golf and sleep not babes and beach for family man Rob Cox.

A wounded postwoman is believed to have been accidentally shot with a pellet gun while making her rounds in Northland yesterday morning.

A specialist police squad negotiated with a man in a rural Far North home for about four hours before he was found dead in a house fire caused by an explosive device.

An nzherald.co.nz reader's video of flooding in Kaeo. Courtesy YouTube/mrmaca

100 low-income families were asked what they needed to get out of poverty. Here are their answers.

The sky is the limit as a Northland town turns on the charm for a winter festival, writes Elisabeth Easther.

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

Ewan McDonald completes a personal triathlon in the Far North.

A huge fire at Taheke, in South Hokianga, is likely to take days and cost tens of thousands of dollars to put out.

No matter what the weather, Elisabeth Easther finds plenty to do at the beach.

A Far North teacher accused of attacking a student during class has made a brief appearance in court this morning.

Danielle Wright takes her family to a Northland town so good they named it twice.

A victim of violence and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband says she stayed with him for more than two decades because he threatened to kill her parents.

The man jailed for two decades for sex and violence offences was a "destructive" influence on Maori/Pakeha relations in the Far North, Labour MP Shane Jones says.

A Far North marae hit by fire this week had been the subject of infighting over a new building on the site, a marae leader says.

The response was swift and pretty much universal: this was appalling, stomach churning, almost certainly criminal, writes Toby Manhire.