Swimmers are being urged to follow the advice of lifeguards at the beach, after lifeguards performed 13 rescues and 10 assists on Christmas Day alone.These included a person being rescued at Piha after not listening to advice on where a safe place to swim was at the popular Auckland beach.Surf Life Saving NZ CEO Steve Fisher said the Piha rescue could have become a fatal incident, so it was frustrating when the public did not listen to their guidance."We're not actually police on the beach, so we're there to help people make good decisions and although it's disappointing when people don't take our advice, we're lucky that lifeguards were there to rescue people."Four people were also rescued at Wainui Beach near Gisborne yesterday after getting stuck in a rip."It wasn't big surf at Wainui yesterday but that kind of lures people into a false sense of security and I know they had pretty tricky conditions with some quite obvious rips so our big message there is people should be swimming in between the flags," said Fisher.Other rescues included a multi-service search and rescue operation - involving Coastguard NZ and police - for a missing kite surfer at Raglan, multiple rescues at Waipātiki, and the treatment and helicopter transfer of a suspected spinal injury at Whangamatā, involving surf lifeguards, Hato Hone St John, and a Westpac Rescue Helicopter.Two people were also hospitalised after a water incident at Ōtaki Beach in Kāpiti Coast on Monday evening.Meanwhile police were also warning the public to stay safe around water, whether that was diving, swimming or boating.They said Water Safety New Zealand found there were 94 drownings last year - the worst year since 2011.So far this year, 86 people have died due to drowning, with 85 percent being male.This story was originally published by RNZ

Recently we have had a few unrelated faults on our network that have affected the Mangawhai, Kaiwaka and Langs Beach areas.Thank you for your patience during this time, we realise these outages are an inconvenience and our teams have worked hard to fix them as quickly as possible.These unrelated faults have occurred at different locations on the high voltage lines that feed the area.The Mangawhai substation, which supplies the wider Mangawhai area is supplied by one high voltage line from Maungaturoto.When there is an outage on this line, there are not the same back up lines available like those you may find in a larger city.This means that we cannot always switch things around to supply all customers when there is a fault.There are also times when we need to turn the power off to some customers so we can safely make repairs.We know Mangawhai is a growing town, which is why we are currently constructing a new substation due to be commissioned in March next year.We are also working on a project to build, new lines to provide an alternative supply route to the area, which will increase the reliability of supply for the town.

Warkworth RegionTuesday 26th December - Very humid. Rain, possibly heavy and thundery this morning. Fine spells from afternoon as rain eases to isolated showers. Westerlies. Very hot.Heavy Rain WatchPeriod: 11hrs from 4am - 3pm Tue, 26 DecArea: Northland, Auckland north of Orewa, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula north of WhitiangaForecast: Periods of heavy rain with thunderstorms possible and rainfall accumulations may approach warning amounts over the area and possibly exceed warning amounts in localised areas. Rainfall rates may reach 20 to 40 mm per hour in one or two places, regardless of whether thunderstorms occur or not.Wednesday 27th December - Fine. Southwesterlies, easing in the evening.Thursday 28th December - Partly cloudy. Northeasterlies, becoming fresh in the morning.Friday 29th December - Cloudy, with occasional rain developing. Northerlies, becoming freshSaturday 30th - Showers, becoming isolated with longer fine breaks. Westerlies.Sunday 31st - Showers, becoming widespread and heavier later. Northwesterlies, turning to fresh southwesterlies.Monday 1st January - Partly cloudy. Southwesterlies.Mangawhai RegionTuesday 26th December - Rain, possibly heavy and thundery, easing this afternoon. Northwesterlies easing this evening. Hot and muggy.Heavy Rain WatchPeriod: 11hrs from 4am - 3pm Tue, 26 DecArea: Northland, Auckland north of Orewa, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula north of WhitiangaForecast: Periods of heavy rain with thunderstorms possible and rainfall accumulations may approach warning amounts over the area and possibly exceed warning amounts in localised areas. Rainfall rates may reach 20 to 40 mm per hour in one or two places, regardless of whether thunderstorms occur or not.Severe Thunderstorm WatchPeriod: 6hrs from 11am - 5pm Tue, 26 DecArea: NorthlandForecast: A moist northwesterly flow is expected to bring frequent showers to Northland today. Thunderstorms are likely and there is a risk of severe thunderstorms bringing localised downpours, 25 to 40 mm per hour late morning and during the afternoon. Rainfall of this intensity can cause surface and/or flash flooding, especially about low-lying areas such as streams, rivers or narrow valleys, and may also lead to slips.Issued: 8:21am Tue 26 DecWednesday 27th December - Fine. Southwesterlies, easing in the evening.Thursday 28th December - Partly cloudy, chance of a shower. Northeasterlies developing in the morning.Friday 29th December - Cloudy, with occasional rain developing. Northerlies.Saturday 30th - Showers, clearing and becoming fine. Westerlies.Sunday 31st - Partly cloudy, with showers developing. Northwesterlies.Monday 1st January - Partly cloudy. Southwesterlies.

All aboard the free summer busStarting on 27 December, the bus loops from the Domain in the village to the surf beach between 10am and 5.30pm. The bus runs daily until 14 January, then on weekends including Waitangi Day on 6 February with an extra weekend added on for Easter (29 March – 1 April).Leave the car at home and catch the bus to key locations including the Mangawhai Artist Gallery, Mangawhai Central, the Museum, MAZ and the Wood Street shops. Plus a new stop on North Ave, walking distance from the estuary. Check the timetable and route online.Climb aboard the free summer bus and avoid the parking hassles this summer.Daily service27 Dec to 14 Jan 2024Weekend and public holiday service20-21 Jan27-29 Jan (Anniversary Day weekend)3-6 Feb (Waitangi Day weekend)29 Mar-1 Apr (Easter weekend)

Unfortunately, it wasn't Santa paying a visit to Goodyear Autocare Warkworth last night around 9.25 pmIf you have any information on who this individual might be,Or if you were in the area and saw anything around that time, please contact the police and use Event number P057191185.This serves as an unfortunate reminder that during this time of year, there tends to be an increase in criminal activity around theft so,Keep vehicles locked and take valuables out of the vehicle when it is left unattended.If you are heading out even for a short time don't leave doors and windows openBe vigilant about protecting property, including locking sheds, trailers, cars and homes, keeping valuables out of sight, and reporting any suspicious behaviour to police by ringing the Crimestoppers number 105, or if it is happening immediately ring 111.

Have a safe and merry Christmas!From the Matakana Coast App team.

Bargain hunting shoppers are being warned to do their research before hitting the malls for Boxing Day sales.New research from price comparison website PriceSpy shows in 2022, 17 percent of products on its website increased in price on Boxing Day.Ten percent were subjected to a fake sale, a strategy where retailers incrementally increase a product's price and then abruptly lower it, promoting a discount based on that inflated price. For instance, it might advertise a 50 percent discount from the previous day's price, but compared to the price from 30 days prior, the discount might only be 20 percent.Massey University marketing professor Bodo Lang said taking 15 minutes to look at previous prices could save hundreds of dollars."That's a really important step to do before you go shopping and before you're in what's called 'the web of marketing,' when you're in the store and you're committed and a salesperson is talking to you. It's very important to do your research before so you know what is actually a good price and what is not a good price."Lang said checking price comparison websites is always his first step."What these websites do is they show the cost for that particular model at a variety of retailers, which is really helpful. They also show a price history, so you know whether the price it is available for at that point in time is actually cheaper than the historical average, or whether it's been bumped up."He said retailers adopt a range of sales techniques to lure in shoppers, some legitimate and some not."It might be 'up to 50 percent off' and so shoppers think, 'oh, this is great, there's a bargain to be had' and they go into the store and once they're in the store they discover that very few items, and maybe only very inexpensive items to begin with, have that large percentage off and really everything else is either full price or only has a very modest discount applied to it."In PriceSpy's consumer survey, 54 percent of respondents said they intended to shop on 26 December.The average amount New Zealanders plan to spend on the day this year is $840.40, down from $1203.30 in 2022 and $954.80 in 2021.PriceSpy's analysis of last year's pricing patterns revealed 44 percent of the products experienced a price drop on Boxing Day.Almost one in five products listed on the website were reduced by 10 percent or more, with the average discount being 21.33 percent.New Zealand country manager Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett said it was evident that Boxing Day presented significant discount opportunities for consumers, so long as they conducted important pricing research to be sure that the item they were looking to buy was being sold at a worthwhile price.This story was originally reported by Emma Stanford, senior reporter on RNZ News

It's a busy time on our roads and at petrol stations.AA Fuel spokesperson Terry Collins told Checkpoint petrol stations hiking prices in the holidays was a "myth".Unlike self-service stations, those that had full-service models had overheads of bathrooms and magazine racks, and that's why prices varied."Last Christmas we had our 25 cents reduction, which with GST came to nearly $0.29 off our fuel. That was the measure that the government put in for the cost-of-living crisis to reduce the fuel excise duty and the price of petrol."In July that came back on. But if we look at what was the price last year add that fuel duty bill, it's within about $0.03. So within background noise of the costing."Without the discount, New Zealanders would be paying the same price at the pump last year, as this year.He said there was worry that prices would go up to $3 a litre, but "fortunately, at the end of September, lack of international demand and other factors came to play and the price has been dropping every week since about the second week in September and long may that continue".Using apps like Gaspy was one way to keep costs down, Collins said."But if you go to the cheapest place in your region on a regular basis, that's the best way. Often those savings will be better than any discount scheme."Another tip he shared was accumulating the discounts and not long before "you've got $1 a litre saving for 50 litres, and because I can accumulate all my scheme for about two months, I'm hoping when I go to redeem it, I will be paying something like $0.40 or $0.50 a litre for my petrol, for 50 litres".Waikato had the most competitive prices, he said.As for planning for long-distance drives, Collins said foresight would help, especially if the destination was a remote area where petrol could be expensive.There was no particular time of day when prices were cheaper."Usually at the beginning of the week often they'll put their pricing models out."He said the price of fuel was affected by domestic and international factors.This story was originally posted by RNZ

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency advises of the following closures for motorway improvements. Work delayed by bad weather will be completed at the next available date, prior to Saturday 13 January 2024.Unless otherwise stated, closures start at 9pm and finish at 5am.NORTHERN MOTORWAY (SH1)Upper Harbour Highway southbound on-ramp, 8-9 JanuaryStafford Road northbound off-ramp, 1-7 January (24 hour closure)Shelly Beach Road southbound off-ramp, 25 December- 1 January (24 hour closure)Curran Street northbound on-ramp, 1-7 January (24 hour closure)CENTRAL MOTORWAY JUNCTION (CMJ)Nelson Street (SH16) eastbound off-ramp, 7-8 January (approx. 7:00pm to 5:00pm)SOUTHERN MOTORWAY (SH1)Southbound lanes between Mt Wellington Highway off-ramp and East Tamaki Road on-ramp, 10-11 January (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Mt Wellington Highway southbound on-ramp, 10-11 JanuaryPrinces Street southbound on-ramp, 10-11 JanuaryHighbrook Drive southbound on-ramp, 10-11 JanuaryPapakura (Diamond) northbound on-ramp, 9 & 11 JanuaryPapakura (Loop) northbound on-ramp, 9-11 JanuaryPapakura northbound off-ramp, 11 JanuarySouthbound lanes between Drury/SH22 off-ramp and Bombay on-ramp, 10 January Drury/SH22 southbound on-ramp, 10 JanuaryRamarama southbound on-ramp, 10 JanuaryBombay northbound on-ramp, 10 JanuaryNorthbound lanes between Bombay off-ramp and Ramarama on-ramp, 10 JanuaryRazorback Road northbound on-ramp, 11 JanuaryRidge Road northbound off-ramp, 11 JanuaryPokeno northbound on-ramp, 11 JanuarySH1 northbound to SH2 eastbound link, 11 JanuaryNORTHWESTERN MOTORWAY (SH16)Southbound lanes between Brigham Creek Road roundabout and Hobsonville Road on-ramp, 9 JanuaryHobsonville Road northbound on-ramp, 9 JanuaryNorthbound lanes between Hobsonville Road off-ramp and Brigham Creek Road roundabout, 9 JanuarySH16 northbound to SH18 eastbound link, 9 JanuaryUPPER HARBOUR MOTORWAY (SH18)Westbound lanes between Greenhithe Road off-ramp and Tauhinu Road on-ramp, 8 January (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Greenhithe Road eastbound on-ramp, 8 & 11 JanuaryEastbound lanes between Tauhinu Road off-ramp and Greenhithe Road on-ramp, 10 January (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Eastbound lanes between Tauhinu Road off-ramp and Albany Highway on-ramp, 8 January (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Tauhinu Road eastbound off-ramp, 8 JanuarySquadron Drive eastbound on-ramp, 8 January (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Eastbound lanes between Hobsonville eastbound on-ramp (SH16) and Squadron Drive on-ramp, 9 JanuaryTrigg Road eastbound on-ramp, 9 JanuaryBrigham Creek Road eastbound on-ramp, 9 JanuarySOUTHWESTERN MOTORWAY (SH20)Mahunga Drive southbound off-ramp, 7-8 January (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Walmsley Road southbound off-ramp, 9-10 January (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)STATE HIGHWAY 2 (SH2)SH2 westbound to SH1 northbound, 11 January (approx. 9:30pm to 5:00am)

Mission achieved - the safety fencing is coming down! A BIG effort from the team at Mason Contractors to get the Snells Beach retaining wall built by Christmas following storm damage earlier in the year. At 125m long with each pole embedded at least 1m into bedrock, it was no small task to complete in 4 weeks. Mason Contractors want to thank the Snells Beach Community for your support on this project, the daily chats and delicious treat deliveries were much appreciated. In the new year they will be installing the capping beam and reinstate the footpath.

Woolworths New Zealand Ltd are recalling specific batches of its Woolworths brand Shortcrust Summer Berry Mince Pies as the product may contain foreign matter (metal).Point of sale notice for retailersIf you are a retailer of the product in this recall, download a copy of the point of sale notice. You need to display it in your store for one month.Point of sale notice – Woolworths brand Shortcrust Summer Berry Mince Pies [PDF, 105KB]Consumer adviceCustomers are asked to check the best before date on the product packaging.Affected product should not be consumed. There have been no reports of associated injury, however if you have consumed any of this product and have any concerns about your health, seek medical advice.Customers should return the product to their retailer for a full refund.Who to contactIf you have questions, contact Woolworths New Zealand Ltd:Phone: 0800 40 40 40Address: 80 Favona Road, Mangere, Manukau.

Warkworth RegionFriday 22nd December - Cloudy periods. Northeasterlies.Saturday 23rd December - Partly cloudy, with isolated showers developing in the morning. Northerlies, becoming fresh in the morning.Sunday 24th December - A few showers, becoming widespread for a time in the afternoon and evening. Fresh northerlies, easing in the afternoon.Christmas Day - Rain, easing. Northwesterlies.Mangawhai RegionFriday 22nd December - Cloudy. Isolated showers north of Kaikohe spreading south this afternoon. Easterlies, fresh this afternoon..Saturday 23rd December - Mostly cloudy, with isolated showers becoming widespread in the morning. Fresh northerlies, easing late.Sunday 24th December - A few showers, clearing in the evening but remaining cloudy. Fresh northerlies, easing in the evening.Christmas Day - Mostly cloudy, with isolated showers becoming widespread. Northwesterlies, becoming fresh.

Auckland Council will continue to service your roadside collections during the holiday season, but with some changes to collection dates. All collections return to normal 8 Jan 2024. For private rubbish collections, don't forget to contact your provider to ask about their holiday schedules.Exceptions to day later rulePrivate rubbish collectionsContact your provider to ask about their holiday schedules.Aotea / Great Barrier IslandAll council roadside collections will be collected one day later.Former Rodney DistrictContact your rubbish collection provider to ask about their holiday schedules.Warkworth and Wellsford businessesThere are no changes to business recycling collections.Ōrewa and SilverdaleBusiness recycling collections are one day later.North Shore and Waitākere businessesThere are no changes to evening roadside rubbish bin collections. Business recycling collections are one day later.City centreThere are no changes to roadside collections for rubbish bags, recycling bags, and paper and cardboard.

Rubbish collection and recycling servicesKerbside collectionsKerbside collections due on Christmas Day (Monday 25 December) will occur on Friday 22 December for both the West run (Poutō, Te Kopuru, Glinks Gully and Baylys Beach) and East run in Mangawhai.The following services will run from Friday 22 December 2023 through to Thursday 01 February 2024:EastMonday/Tuesday/Wednesday - no change except Christmas DayThursday - extra collection in MangawhaiFriday - extra collection for Tinopai and Pahi.Where a statutory holiday falls on a collection day, normal rubbish collection will occur, except for Christmas Day.Hakaru Re:sort CentreMonday 25 December - closedTuesday 26 December - closedMonday 01 January - closedAll other days open from 8am to 4pmLibrariesMangawhai Library is closed Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 December 2023 and Monday 01 and Tuesday 02 January 2024.Kaiwaka Library closes at 2pm Saturday 23 December 2023 and reopens 4pm Monday 08 January 2024.

Plans for a vibrant riverfront, better connections to Warkworth town centre and river, and a new green network are set to delight the community.Rodney Local Board has adopted the Puhinui / Warkworth Town Centre Plan which Chair Brent Bailey says guides future development and provides for a well-designed and attractive town centre with the river at its heart.“The Warkworth community are very clear about what they want to see in the future. Over time, the town should develop as a vibrant centre full of energy and life that is accessible to everyone.“They want the town’s character and heritage maintained and enhanced with a new entertainment and arts focus.”Bailey says for locals the river is intertwined with the town and other comments were about accessibility, pedestrian safety, cycling and car parking.“We heard about the river’s health and revitalising the riverfront. People want better connections to the river, like at the Elizabeth Street Bridge, and with parts of Lucy Moore Park.“The town centre really comes to life during celebrations like the Kowhai Festival, Mahurangi Winter Festival of Lights and Christmas events. People enjoy being able to move around and experience everything as it happens. We hope this plan reflects that aim and the desire for attractive public spaces that everyone can enjoy.”Key action areas from the plan are:Mahurangi River – improving the river and town interface along both sides of the river. Providing more opportunities for interaction with the river including walkways, environmental restoration, and heritage exploration. Improving the health of the river, acknowledging the mana of Ngāti Manuhiri and their relationship with the river.Neville, Elizabeth and Queen streets – improving accessibility and pedestrian safety in the town centre, supporting cycling, improving street character, preserving heritage buildings and better management of car parking.Laneways and walkways – developing a co-ordinated strategy to transform laneways into safe, fun, accessible spaces. Providing artwork, lighting, seating and planting that will create a new entertainment and arts focus for the town.Green network – supporting the ecology of the natural environment in the face of anticipated intensification through good access to green spaces, creating walks and trails, tree planting and protection, provision for outdoor events and community gardens.A vibrant riverfront – revitalise the waterfront along Wharf Street, create a new community plaza and riverfront play space next to the old Warehouse Stationery building, create a market space and village green area between the Masonic Hall and Lucy Moore Park, and improve the accessibility and usability of Lucy Moore Park.The Puhinui / Warkworth Town Centre Plan can be found on the Rodney Local Board business meeting agenda, item 13.

Peter de GraafThe Northland coast has been transformed into a sea of red in what a leading conservationist is calling the most spectacular flowering of pōhutukawa he has seen in 20 years.Dean Baigent-Mercer, Northland conservation manager for Forest and Bird, said the explosion of colour was not confined just to the region's most-loved coastal trees."This summer is a particularly spectacular year for pōhutukawa flowering, but it's not only them. It's also kānuka, porokaiwhiri or pigeonwood, taraire, tawa, karaka and other native trees. They're all just having the most stupendous flowering season, which will also be a massive fruiting season come autumn."Baigent-Mercer put the remarkable display down to the "ridiculous" amount of rain across Northland during the past year."And of course there was Cyclone Gabrielle and other heavy rain events during that time, so there is a lot of water in the system, including the aquifers," he said."Back in 2020 we had a really severe drought in Northland. Now it has switched and that is fuelling a very heavy flowering season. This is one of the consequences of climate change - as the climate heats there is more energy in our weather systems, things became more unpredictable and we get more extreme weather. And so all these different forest plants are reacting to the extremes that are happening around them."The term used to describe a sudden heavy flowering or fruiting was a "mast event".Pōhutukawa in bloom at Paihia's Horotutu Park. Photo: RNZ / Peter de GraafBaigent-Mercer said Northlanders were now witnessing a multi-mast event because many different species were involved.Pōhutukawa did not flower consistently every year, he said."But it seems they've all flicked their on-switch and they're going to maximum in this particular summer season. It's a very rare occurrence that it happens all at once. This is the most impressive flowering of pōhutukawa I have seen in 20 years, and if you look up valleys you will see they are white with kānuka flowers as well."There was, however, a potential downside for Northland's native species once autumn came."It's wonderful that there's all this nectar there for birds, bats and lizards, and there's going to be all this fruit production with all these big fats seeds coming in autumn," he said."In that natural scheme of things that would feed the birds and lizards whose populations have been depleted, so they can build up and have an extra next for that year. But, unfortunately, if there's no pest control going on, or very little, the food that is suddenly produced in abundance ends up in the mouths of rats and possums, and they have a surge in their population."In areas where pest control was in place, wildlife would benefit from the extra food.In areas without pest control, rat plagues could decimate native species as the weather cooled.That was particularly true in Northland, which had no rapid response plan for major mast events.Baigent-Mercer's message for anyone carrying out pest control was to be ready to ramp up in autumn - and for those who were not yet catching pests, now was a good time to start."There's not a moment to lose. Fill up your bait stations, set your traps, go hard out, because the benefits will be reaped in autumn as that fruit falls," he said.This story was orginally published by RNZ

An update on us closing State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyns next year: We’ll be closing SH1 from 26 February for a total of approximately nine weeks. We’ll open SH1 from 28 March 2024 until 2 April 2024 to allow for Easter holiday travel—then we’ll close SH1 again from 3 April 2024 to complete the closure works.We really appreciate people taking the time to share with us their feedback on the closure—almost 200 people attended our webinars, and we received over 2500 survey submissions. This feedback, along with input from the Northland Inc steering group, helped ensure we reached the right result for you.Closing the road allows us to complete essential recovery and enabling works before next winter, maintaining this vital connection for the short to medium term.This hybrid approach of closing before and after Easter but reopening the road for Easter travel lets us balance as many factors as possible, including the needs of your communities, freight operators, tourism businesses, and the effect of weather over that period of time.Sign up for further updates and find out more information on our website: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/sh1-brynderwyn-hills/

The UNPLANNED power outgages that affected a massive area from coast to coast has now been restored.The power outage also affected some Fibre networks for internet and voice access for customers in the Mangawhai area.There are PLANNED outages still to come so please check the Northpower website to determine if your property will be affected today and in the next few days.

The housing market continues to improve, but recovery next year is expected to be gradual and muted.The November Quotable Value (QV) housing market report shows the value of the average home increased 0.7 percent on October, the fourth consecutive monthly rise, for a quarterly gain of 2.3 percent.The national average value was $914,017, a gain of $6630 on October, but overall the market was still down 3.3 percent since the start of the year.QV operations manager James Wilson said the market this year had fallen, stabilised, and was now recovering."But rather than the start of another major uplift in values, I expect we'll see a return to a more typical sort of housing market in the year ahead, with slow growth, and days to sell and listing numbers eventually returning to historic norms."He said high interest rates and issues of affordability would put a "damper" on recovery.Values rose in 14 of the 16 main urban centres over the past quarter, with Tauranga and Marlborough posting marginal declines.Among the stronger gains for the period were Rotorua (9.5 percent), Hastings (3.5 percent), and Wellington (3.2 percent).Only three centres recorded price rises this year - Rotorua (3.2 percent), Queenstown (2.1 percent) and Invercargill (1.5 percent), with Whangārei and Tauranga values still markedly lower.Wilson said first home buyers remained the driver of the improvement, and increased migration was also underpinning demand, but he doubted the recovery would be strong."It's really tough out there and it could get tougher. It's just a slow but steady recovery at this stage," he said."But it will be interesting to see if significant numbers of investors do return to the market in the first half of 2024, given the new government's policy settings. They'll be hamstrung by affordability constraints just like everyone else, as the mortgage pain looks set to continue in 2024."This story was originally published by RNZ