Tongan community mourns two visitors' deaths in bus crash after brakes failed to work, survivors say.

The two people killed in the Christmas Eve bus crash near Gisborne last night have been named, as the driver of the bus says the brakes failed.

Two people have died after a bus carrying school bands and their chaperons from Tonga went 100m off a bank and crashed south of Gisborne.

What will start out as a cloudy morning for most of the country should clear as the Christmas day wears on, but the odd shower is in store too.

Wet weather today will clear throughout the country making way for a mainly fine Christmas weekend.

There was a record downpour in Auckland, a tornado in Taranaki and "quake lights" above Wellington. Oh, and 2016 was likely also New Zealand's hottest year on record.

A patient at Waikato Hospital says he was told he was a "faggot" by a doctor who arrived allegedly drunk in his room in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Final repairs were made this morning to high voltage lines which were brought down when a light plane crashed, killing the two people on board.

The teacher having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl was not fired from the school where he worked over his contact with the girl, an inquest heard.

The man who added to the anxiety of Gisborne residents this week after warning of an earthquake insists he has "nothing to apologise for".

Reiha McLelland would be alive today if it were not for her "inappropriate" relationship with her intermediate school teacher, the inquest into her death has been told.

Now that Gisborne is out of the unexpected chaos and back to the usual Christmas mayhem, locals are reflecting on how it all started. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Now that Gisborne is out of the unexpected chaos and back to the usual Christmas mayhem, locals are reflecting on how it all started. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

More than 40,000 Gisborne residents have been asked to prepare for eight hours without power again this Sunday.

Tairawhiti Police, Civil Defence and Eastland Network called a press conference today, with some good news. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Tairawhiti Police, Civil Defence and Eastland Network called a press conference today, with some good news. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Reiha McLelland, 13, was under great pressure to keep secret her relationship with her former teacher Sam Back, an inquest has heard.

Power has been fully restored to more than 20,000 homes and businesses in Gisborne tonight, after a 33-hour outage.

As the bulk of the Gisborne district remains without power after plane crashed into high voltage lines, the residents of the region are mucking in.

The father of George Anderson, whose body was removed from rural Hangaroa yesterday afternoon, was also a pilot.

Investigators will begin combing through the wreckage of a plane crash that killed two people and cut power to 20,000 homes in the Gisborne region.

The pilot who died in a plane crash near Gisborne today, George Anderson, has been described as "an extraordinary, funny, vibrant young man.

Long queues have formed at two petrol stations in Gisborne apparently driven by an earthquake predicted posted on Facebook.

Police have reached the site where a light plane has crashed near Gisborne today.

It could be two or more days before the Gisborne area gets power after a light plane crashed into power lines this morning, cutting electricity to the city.

Fewer than half of councils have enough staff trained to respond to marine oil spills.

Summer will be well and truly here this week with temperatures expected to soar to 29C in some parts.

American author Peter Dixon is the man behind many hit TV shows from the 1960s, '70s and '80s, including, Flipper, Little House on the Prairie, Knight Rider, and Bionic Woman.

People across New Zealand have been basking in today's sunshine as the first weekend of summer did not disappoint.

Govt says a public message about unusual seismic activity under the North Island was not a cause for alarm.