To the great white shark, a spot of water out from Stewart Island has been revealed as the equivalent of the corner pub.

Bad weather has put a damper on the start of the Bluff oyster season but it has not stopped Auckland's restaurants and retailers getting them on to plates in the thousands.

A baby owes its life to its grandmother who intervened during her own daughter's attempt at infanticide.

The official warning over a tsunami that threatened the entire east coast of New Zealand today has been downgraded to an advisory, but there is still a threat from ocean surges.

Wave activity "appears to be stabilised" at previously-reported levels, Civil Defence Emergency Management says.

The first wave has reached the Chatham Islands, after a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Chile overnight. An official tsunami alert remains in place for New Zealand's entire east coast.

A teenage girl who fought off a shark was lucky the animal only gave her an "exploratory bite", an expert says.

A 14-year-old boogie-boarder attacked by a shark says she stood on something slippery before seeing a "massive grey thing twisting in the water".

Summer has ground to a spectacular halt in a number of regions over the past week - is it going to get even worse?