A 78-year-old Westport man has been further remanded on bail to appear in the Greymouth District Court in June on charges related to historic sex offending.

A judge has taken a German tourist's word that she will voluntarily pay thousands of dollars in compensation to a motorcyclist that she seriously injured in a head-on crash.

The daughter of Gloriavale leader Neville Cooper, who walked out of the commune after 41 years, says the latest family to leave face a hard road.

Gloriavale Christian Community has responded to accusations they were living in a "false system", by saying that "no one is here against their will".

A 21-year-old Westport woman sold $12,000 of furniture -including a couch and fridge - from the furnished house she was renting.

A family of 14 have walked out on a West Coast religious commune to start a new life after concluding they had been living in a “false system”.

A desperate plea by 15 bystanders for passing jetboats to rescue a 30-year-old struggling in the chilly waters of the Hokitika Gorge were ignored by the boaties.

Twenty people have rescued an American tourist from a West Coast cave after the woman suffered a suspected broken leg yesterday.

The craggy and wild Main Divide really does split New Zealand into two different landscapes, writes Bronwyn Sell.

A Reefton man who punched and kicked a cow at the Cape Foulwind dairy farm where he worked has been sentenced to community detention and community work.

Even the rain has a five-star edge at Te Waonui Forest Retreat, finds Bronwyn Sell.

Eighty five years ago the carrier that was to become Hawaiian Airlines started commercial flights using a plane dubbed the "ugly duckling".