Preparations are complete for the first delicate step in re-entering the Pike River Coal mine tomorrow morning after a drop in the gas levels inside the West Coast mine over the last couple of weeks.

The driver of a truck and trailer unit is dead after his vehicle crashed over a bank on the Otira Highway.

Work to stabilise the Pike River coal mine has been delayed a second time by dangerous gas readings.

From plains to peaks to rainforest, the TranzAlpine offers a taster of the striking south.

Police say while they are "highly suspicious" a figure seen in footage taken from within the Pike River mine is a body, it is impossible to confirm without months of work.

The police-led rescue and recovery operation launched in the wake of the Pike River tragedy has cost nearly $11 million, according to figures in a detailed breakdown released this afternoon.

The centre will be named the West Coast Memorial Events Centre in memory of the Pike River and other mine disaster victims.

Families of the Pike River miners have rejected a claim that police leaked previously unseen CCTV footage of the disaster to TVNZ.

On the eve of a preliminary hearing into the Pike River disaster, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn has warned the collapsed mine's receivers to get in and get the dead miners' remains, or stand aside so someone else can.

In a secret spot, restricted to visitors, Jim Eagles marvels at the elegant, isolated beauty of NZ's only flock of endangered white heron.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River disaster will need more than 15 weeks to examine key issues, a families' spokesman says.

Prince William has met families of the victims of the Pike River Coal mine disaster in Greymouth tonight.