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 Friday 19, May 2023.Unless otherwise stated, closures start at 9pm and finish at 5am.NORTHERN MOTORWAY (SH1)Southbound lanes between Waiwera off-ramp and Silverdale on-ramp, 14-18 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Orewa southbound-ramp, 14-18 MayMillwater southbound on-ramp, 14-18 MayNorthbound lanes between Silverdale off-ramp and Waiwera on-ramp, 14-18 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Orewa northbound on-ramp, 14-18 MaySilverdale northbound on-ramp, 14-18 MaySouthbound lanes between Oteha Valley Road off-ramp and Greville Road southbound on-ramp, 14-18 MayOteha Valley Road southbound on-ramp, 14-18 MayNorthbound lanes between Greville Road off-ramp and Oteha Valley Road on-ramp, 14 & 16-18 May (approx. 9:30pm to 5:00)Greville Road northbound on-ramp, 14 & 16–18 MaySH1 southbound to SH18 westbound link, 16 MayConstellation Drive southbound on-ramp, 14 MayConstellation Drive northbound off-ramp, 17 MayNorthbound lanes between Northcote Road off-ramp and Constellation Drive on-ramp, 15 MayTristram Avenue northbound on-ramp, 15 MayNorthcote Road northbound on-ramp, 15 MayEsmonde Road (Diamond) northbound on-ramp, 14 & 17 MayEsmonde Road northbound off-ramp, 18 MayCENTRAL MOTORWAY JUNCTION (CMJ)Hobson Street southbound on-ramp, 16-17 MayHobson Street westbound on-ramp, 16-17 MaySH16 eastbound to SH1 southbound link, 16-17 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Symonds Street southbound on-ramp, 16-17 MayWestbound lanes between Stanley Street off-ramp and Wellesley Street East on-ramp, 16-17 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Grafton Road southbound on-ramp, 16-17 MaySH16 (Port) westbound to SH1 southbound link, 16-17 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)SH1 northbound to SH16 eastbound (Port) link, 15 MaySymonds Street northbound off-ramp, 15 MaySOUTHERN MOTORWAY (SH1)Southbound lanes between Fanshawe Street off-ramp and Greenlane on-ramp, 16-17 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Khyber Pass Road southbound on-ramp, 16-18 MayGillies Avenue southbound off-ramp, 18 MaySt Marks Road southbound on-ramp, 16-17 MayHill Road northbound on-ramp, 18 MayPapakura (Loop) northbound on ramp, 14-18 MaySouthbound lanes between Papakura off-ramp and Drury/SH22 on-ramp, 14-18 MayPapakura southbound on-ramp, 14-18 MayNorthbound lanes between Ramarama off-ramp and Papakura on-ramp, 14-18 MayDrury/SH22 northbound on-ramp, 14-18 MayRamarama northbound on-ramp, 14-18 MayBeaver Road northbound on-ramp, 17 MayBeaver Road northbound off-ramp, 17 MayNikau Road northbound on-ramp, 17 MayPokeno southbound on-ramp, 14 MaySouthbound lanes between Mercer off-ramp and Mercer on-ramp, 18 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Northbound lanes between Mercer off-ramp and Mercer on-ramp, 18 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)NORTHWESTERN MOTORWAY (SH16)Southbound lanes between Brigham Creek Roundabout and Lincoln Road on-ramp, 14 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Southbound lanes between Hobsonville Road off-ramp and Lincoln Road on-ramp, 14 MayHobsonville Road southbound on-ramp, 14 MayRoyal Road southbound on-ramp, 14 MayNorthbound lanes between Lincoln Road off-ramp and Brigham Creek Roundabout, 14 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Lincoln Road northbound on-ramp, 14-18 MayLincoln Road southbound off-ramp, 15-18 MayRosebank Road eastbound on-ramp, 14 MayGreat North Road eastbound off-ramp, 16 MayUPPER HARBOUR MOTORWAY (SH18)Paul Matthews Road westbound on-ramp, 16 MayAlbany Highway eastbound off-ramp, 18 MaySOUTHWESTERN MOTORWAY (SH20)Neilson Street northbound off-ramp, 15-16 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Rimu Road northbound on-ramp, 15-16 MayNorthbound lanes between Walmsley Road off-ramp and Massey Road on-ramp, 16 May (approx. 10:00pm to 5:00am)Walmsley Road northbound on-ramp, 16 MayCavendish Drive northbound on-ramp, 16 May

Warkworth RegionMonday 15th May - Partly cloudy with scattered showers, possibly heavy this morning, becoming isolated this afternoon. Fog patches north of the Bridge clearing early. Southwesterlies.Tuesday 16th May - A few showers, clearing in the afternoon to partly cloudy weather. Southwesterlies.Wednesday 17th - Partly cloudy. Southwesterlies, turning northwesterly in the evening.Thursday 18th - Partly cloudy. Northerlies.Friday 19th - Showers, some heavy, becoming isolated with longer fine breaks. Northerlies, rising to gale later.Saturday 20th - Showers, some heavy, clearing to fine. Strong westerlies, easing later.Sunday 21st - Showers. Westerlies.Mangawhai RegionMonday 15th May - Fine to start. A few showers from midday, possibly heavy this afternoon. Light winds.Tuesday 16th May - A few showers, clearing in the afternoon and becoming fine. Southwesterlies.Wednesday 17th - Fine, then a few showers developing later in the day. Westerlies.Thursday 18th - Partly cloudy, with rain developing. Northeasterlies.Friday 19th - Showers, clearing and becoming fine. Strong northwesterlies.Saturday 20th - Showers with westerlies.Sunday 21st - A few showers. Westerlies.

A nearly-billion dollar flood and cyclone recovery package will go towards road, rail and school repairs, flood protection, and mental health support.The package has been announced by the government this morning.Treasury has estimated the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Floods could range from $9 billion to $14.5b, second behind only the Canterbury earthquakes in terms of damage from natural disasters New Zealand has faced. Of this, $5b to $7.5b of damage is expected to relate to infrastructure owned by central and local government.As part of Budget 2023, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the spending announced today would cover the "basics," as much of the country recovers from the effects of severe weather."This is about doing the basics - repairing and rebuilding what has been damaged and making smart investments, including $100 million of protection funding to ensure future events don't cause the same devastation," Hipkins said in a statement."This recovery package will get roads, rail and schools back to where they were before the extreme weather hit this year so communities can get back to normal as soon as possible."These investments will help ease the pressure on local communities already struggling with the cost of living from having to foot the full recovery bill. We're partnering with local government to make sure cost isn't a barrier to the recovery work getting done."Minister of Transport Michael Wood said the government would step up to aid local councils in addressing damage to the transport network."Within the support announced today, $275 million is earmarked for Waka Kotahi and local councils to repair affected roads and get New Zealand's essential transport network operating again," he said. "This is on top of the $250 million the government announced immediately after Cyclone Gabrielle."A further $200m would be used to repair railways.As well, $117m would go to schools. "Over 500 schools across the North Island have been damaged and we are committing to getting them all back to their previous state," said Education Minister Jan Tinetti.She said $31m would cover the immediate costs associated with returning affected schools to working order."A further $85 million funding has been allocated for the ongoing work required to return schools to their pre-weather-event state. In some cases, this may require redevelopment or relocation."The government has set aside $700,000 for staffing over the next two years to fund relief staff and additional teachers, and $782,000 will go towards replacing library books and other resources that have been lost in the floods.Mental and physical wellbeing was another priority, Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said.She announced $35m will fund mental health initiatives, GPs in community, primary, and residential care, and front line health workers."We know from other disasters in New Zealand and globally that mental health impacts emerge over time," Verrall said. "The demand for various services will change over the next six to 12 months, and our response will evolve to ensure we're responding."The new package is on top of $890m the government has already announced for repair works and business support for those affected by floods and the cyclone.

We would like to take this moment to say Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there,To the Mums who can’t be with us, the fur baby Mums, the Dad Moms, the hoping to be Mums, the soon to be Mums & the Mum like figures in our lives.You are all so special and we wish you a truly wonderful day filled with love, joy, and well-deserved pampering.!From the team at the Matakana App

The public's trust in banks has fallen below even supermarkets, as profits surge in the middle of a cost of living crisis.Australian bank giants ANZ, BNZ, ASB and Westpac reported record profits earlier this year, despite economic pressures.Consumer NZ's latest quarterly sentiment survey found 39 percent of New Zealanders did not trust their banks.Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said people were frustrated by high fees and poor customer service."Consumers aren't seeing value in what they're paying for when they deal with their banks," Duffy said."It's a low point for the banks, it's the biggest drop we've seen since we've been running this survey, which is over two years. It's got to the point where [banks] are less trusted than the supermarkets, which is saying something."The worst results were concentrated around the big Australian banks."The smaller banks are actually doing a lot better than the larger banks," Duffy said."The top four, the biggest, most profitable companies in New Zealand, are coming out with the poorest level of customer satisfaction. Whereas the smaller New Zealand-owned entities are doing much better."High fees were one of the biggest complaints, but Duffy said it was not all the banks' fault."The Reserve Bank is moving interest rates up. So if you've got a mortgage, you're paying a whole lot more."That's not necessarily all the banks' fault, but you're also paying fees and you're also expecting a level of service from your bank that this level of trust suggests isn't being returned. People aren't seeing value for money."Those fees, contrasted against massive profits for the banks themselves, had customers frustrated."The high level of profitability will be making people question the level of service they're getting," Duffy said. "This sector is highly profitable, and in a cost of living crisis that's really going to irk some people."Finance Minister Grant Robertson said he still trusted banks, but he understood public sentiment was turning."There's a debate to be had about profits, there's a debate to be had about the way in which an individual consumer might have an experience with a bank," Robertson said after a pre-Budget speech at BNZ's head office."We need banks, banks are part of the system in which we work. When it comes to levels of bank profit, banks have to justify, particularly in difficult economic circumstances, the level of profits that they have in order to keep their social license."I haven't read the [Consumer NZ] report, so I don't know how much profits feed in to people's view about trust, but those issues are definitely ones they have to justify."Duffy said an investigation might be necessary."I think we need to have an independent assessment around the level of competition in our banking sector and work out whether there are interventions that can be made to increase competition, and hopefully increase the level of customer service and innovation in the sector."

The funeral of a Whangārei Boys' High School student who died during a caving trip earlier this week will take place on Sunday.Year 11 student Karnin Ahorangi Petera after being trapped in a cave that rapidly filled with water while on a class trip with 14 other students.WorkSafe and police investigations into the incident are under way.Through family spokesperson Angela Young, the whānau said Karnin had been returned home was lying in state at Paa Te Ora Marae in Te Karae."The whānau wish to thank everyone for their love, kindness and support at this difficult time."Meanwhile, some parents are calling for a temporary halt on outdoor school trips following Karnin's death.But others say they would like to see the details released from the WorkSafe investigation before making significant changes to outdoor education protocols.The school had a risk assessment done for the trip that stated Abbey Caves were "prone to flooding" in heavy rain.It recommended to postpone the trip if water levels were too high.The trip went ahead, despite Northland being under a MetService orange rain warning on Tuesday and the night before.One parent whose son goes to Whangārei Boys High School said he will not feel safe for his son to take part in any outdoor trips in the meantime."My wife and I are very concerned, certainly about any outdoor activities, certainly about any outdoor activities that involve the boys… certainly caving, abseiling, rock climbing, camp."He said the school should pause outdoor trips as the investigations are ongoing."You'd have to argue there's been a lack in the protocols, or at least the systems involved, and what led to this, that need to be addressed before they can do anything else like this."Another parent who also does not want to be named said she would be cautious with sending her son, who is in year 9, to any future outdoor trips."You sort of expect that they'll be safe, and taken care of, but I'll just be a bit more wary of it in the future."A parent whose son is in the same year as the group of students who went on the trip said she wants more reassurance from the school.She said there could have been more "communications, emails, [and] talk with the students".She said she would like to see the school put some interim safety measures in place to put parents at ease, as the investigation could take a long time.Whangārei Boys High School's board has been approached for comment, but has not responded yet.Meanwhile, others said they hope the reaction to the tragedy would not constrain the future of outdoor education.David, whose son goes to Whangārei Boys High School, said he still has confidence in teachers and would not want his son to stop experiencing outdoor trips in the meantime."They definitely need to keep going ahead."Te Tai Tokerai Principals Association president Pat Newman, who is also the principal of a primary school that Karnin attended, said it is a deeply sad time for the country."All are hurting," he said.But Newman adds that he hopes that outdoor education will continue to be protected, in a way that does not restrict children from valuable experience."I am also very, very wary, and hopefully it won't happen, that the hundreds of thousands of children and students who every year partake in outdoor education, which is crucial to us in NZ, are not suddenly rope tied because something has gone wrong at this stage."Outdoor education is an absolute crucial aspect of a child's development and though I'm extremely sad, as is every other person in New Zealand, that this has happened, I would hate us to react without knowing the full facts and details."When asked whether principals of schools in Northland have been discussing a review of outdoor education policies, he said questions and comments on the incident should wait for another time."I would call upon all the comments about blame to be left to when the experts in outdoor education, experts in work and safety have time to sit down in calmer situations and find out what the true facts are."Andy Mouat, principal of Whangārei's Excellere College in Whangārei, said his Christian school has been praying for the students and families affected.Mouat said he can not speculate on what the recommendations of the investigations would be, but adds he does not want to see students in New Zealand "wrapped up in cotton wool" as a result of a risk-averse culture towards outdoor education.He said the memories students get from outdoor education is what makes the country's education unique.Mouat said the students and educators across Whangārei are closely connected, which makes tragedies like this one particularly difficult on everyone.

Friday 12th MayWOW - Move Up Programme - with Jo and BridgetCATS: Young Actors EditionMatakana Comedy Club with Tarun MohanbhaiFiji Fridays @ SmithsLeigh Sawmill Happy Hour FridayLive Music Friday Nights @ Matakana Village PubSaturday 13th MayMangawhai Community MarketMangawhai Tavern MarketMatakana Village Farmers MarketCATS: Young Actors EditionMixed Messages Saturday's @ SmithsThe Bobby HolidaysSunday 14th MayMatakana Country Park Market - Mothers day special with circusMother's Day at SculptureumMothers Day Red Wine Blending SessionCATS: Young Actors EditionKaiwaka Community Planting DaySunday Service @ SmithsLAST DAY TO ENTER OUR Mother's Day Winter Escape Gift Pack!

Warkworth RegionFriday 12th May - Partly cloudy. Isolated showers, clearing this morning. Becoming fine for a time this afternoon and evening. Southerlies, dying out evening.Saturday 13th May - Fine, but cloud increasing in the afternoon with the chance of a shower in the evening. Southwesterlies.Sunday 14th May - Mainly fine, isolated showers in the afternoon and evening. Southwesterlies.Have a dog or horse that needs physical help? Contact local company Epic Physio NZMangawhai RegionFriday 12th May - Partly cloudy. Isolated showers, clearing this afternoon as fine breaks increase. Southerlies.Saturday 13th May - Cloudy periods with isolated showers. Light winds with afternoon southwesterlies.Sunday 14th May - Mainly fine, isolated showers in the afternoon and evening. Southwesterlies developing for a time in the afternoon and evening.

In line with the opening of the safer, more resilient and reliable Ara Tūhono – Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway, the new speed limits for the corridor have been certified.In November and December 2022, we held a formal consultation through the Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan. We asked the public for feedback on a number of proposed new speed limits including those for the Ara Tūhono - Pūhoi to Warkworth corridor. A total of 66 public submissions were received for the Tamaki Makaurau region and 6 submissions were provided specifically in relation to the Ara Tūhono - Pūhoi to Warkworth corridor.Based on the feedback received through the Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan consultation, the following speeds have been set as the new permanent speed limits.These new permanent speed limits will take effect on the day SH1 Ara Tūhono – Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway opens.View larger map [PDF, 2.4 MB]A review is underway to assess if the Ara Tūhono – Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway is suitable for 110km/h speed limit. The review will consider the operating speeds following the opening of the new motorway.Interim State Highway Speed Management PlanWaka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is still working through the final decision on speed limits for the remainder of the Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan. We will notify the public as soon as they are available and at this time the Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan consultation summary will also be published. Interim State Highway Speed Management PlanFor more information on speed management, email us on [email protected] all your Toyota needs, new or used car, service or parts, check out Warkworth Toyota

An inquiry into a fatal school caving trip in Whangārei will focus on why it went ahead despite heavy rain and thunderstorm warnings, a former WorkSafe investigator says.A Whangārei Boys' High student died on Tuesday when his outdoor education group became trapped in Abbey Caves.Fourteen other students and two adults got out.WorkSafe confirmed it had launched an investigation but declined to comment further.Shenah Lintern's daughter was among six Northcote College students who got trapped for hours in the Waipu Caves in Northland in 2007.The teens and their instructors eventually had to swim to safety in the dark, and all survived.But Lintern said she felt little had changed since.Abbey Caves were just 35km from those her daughter was stuck in."I'm angry because they didn't learn from 2007," she said."In 2007 they knew that there was bad incoming weather and they still went ahead with taking the kids down into the caves. And they've done it again... I'm dumbfounded."WorkSafe helped develop the national caving safety guidelines which stated instructors should know how and when to cancel a trip.This included knowing weather forecasts, the maximum safe water level and safe waiting areas, escape routes and how to get out if the water rose, the guidelines said.A former WorkSafe investigator told RNZ the current inquiry would look at the school's decision to go into the caves despite the bad weather.It would consider who made the call and what reassurances they had that the students would be safe.Those working on the investigation would also scrutinise everything that lead up to that decision and would likely take a guide into the caves to look at the risks, the former investigator believed.Whangārei locals were struggling to make sense of what had happened."There's a weather alert, and here's a school taking these children into these caves while this is going on. Someone's arse needs to be kicked. Big time," one said."Who are you going to blame? The poor headmistress? No way. She's just doing her job," another said."No doubt there'll be a lot of finger-pointing. They've just got to get through it, work it out, what went wrong and move forward on making better decisions," a third commented."It's just sad for the whānau at the end of the day, very sad."Oparara Guided Cave Tours manager Jude Harrington runs an operation that takes visitors into Kahurangi National Park on the West Coast of the South Island."If we are concerned enough by heavy storm warnings the night before, we will actually cancel a tour rather than take the risk," she said."The most common practice is to go and assess it in the morning. There's a point on the track where if the water is flowing across the track, they simply turnaround and come back out and we cancel."Harrington said safety was paramount and there were usually several people involved in making the call on whether or not to go ahead.The size of the group going into the cave was also critical - both for safety and conservation, she said."We operate under a Department of Conservation concession, so they set the number of people that can go."Because of the sort of terrain we're dealing with and some of the viewing points within the cave, we have a restriction of eight guests plus the guide," Harrington said.The national guidelines recommended a ratio of one caving instructor to six people if they were in moving water.That was not the case for the Whangārei Boys' trip which involved an instructor, a teacher and 15 teenagers.Lintern said she felt like no one took into account the aftermath of the situations where trips did not go as planned.Her daughter, now 31, still suffered from crippling anxiety that began about a year after her ordeal in Waipu Caves."There was a lot of danger involved - she got out safely but it has affected her since then," she said."And that's what they don't take into account, that if something goes wrong these children are going to be permanently affected by it."The Education Outside The Classroom (EOTC) guidelines on the Ministry of Education website state no qualification is needed to lead most outdoor activities, with the exception of rafting.The guidelines, published in 2016, say an analysis of serious incidents found incompetent leaders and ineffective supervision were major contributing factors.

Searchers have recovered a body at Abbey Caves in Northland where a student was missing after a school trip during bad weather on Tuesday.Northland District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill announced the discovery of the body shortly before 6.30am today.He said the body was found late on Tuesday night after police continued the search using specialist equipment brought up from Auckland.The Year 11 student from Whangārei Boys' High School went missing during a trip in to the caves with a school party.The search for the missing student had been expected to conclude around 5pm yesterday, however, the equipment meant it could continue into the evening, Hill said."This helped enable searchers to locate a body, which was successfully recovered late yesterday evening. As such, the search has now concluded," Hill said."While formal ID of the body is yet to take place, police are ensuring the family is being offered support, and our thoughts remain with them at this tragic time."Some cordons will remain in place around the caves area while police continued to conduct a routine scene examination, he said."We acknowledge this event has been very distressing for the school and wider community, and that there are a number of questions the public will have."At the moment, police's focus is on supporting those affected, and we remind people to please not make assumptions as to what has occurred."Fourteen other students and two adults reported being in trouble around 10.30am on Tuesday but made it out of the caves to safety, where they helped by search and rescue teams and St John Ambulance.Ngāti Kahu o Torongare me Ngā Hapū o Whangārei has closed the area until a rāhui is lifted.The hapū has extended it condolences to the whānau of the student. It has also acknowledged the work of Land Search and Rescue, the police, FENZ and anyone else who supported the emergency response.It offered codolences to staff and students at Whangārei Boys High School also.In a statement yesterday, the school's principal Karen Gilbert-Smith promised a full investigation into the trip would be held.

OPENSH1 Brynderwyns is now OPENSH1 Dome Valley is now OPENPakiri Hill is OPENMatakana Valley Road hill is OPENWaitetei Road is OPENWest Coast RoadBaldrock RoadCLOSEDWayby Valley Road - floodedValley Road - floodingOneriri Road - floodingCAUTIONLeaving Warkworth on SH1 near the Golf Course there are massive potholes taking out car tires.Paparoa Oakleigh RoadKaiwaka Mangawhai RoadCove RoadBickerstaffe RoadPlease let us know if you have any updates [email protected] house soon? Check out Warkworth Removals

SH1 Brynderwyns are impacted with slips and surface water, both directions are now closed to traffic. Use alternative routes.Waipu has big areas of flooding and roads may not be safe to pass. This could impact the alternative route through from Mangawhai to Whangarei as Brynderwyns are closed.Pakiri river road is starting to flood, be careful as there are potholes.SH1 Dome Valley - flooding and slips starting road is CLOSED.SH16 at Woodcocks has flooding and not passable.Matakana Link Road roundabout - Serious flooding on road just near the matakana link road round about. Lease drive slow and safe.SH1 Warkworth - just south near the rifle range there is flooding that may not be passable.Rodney College and Wellsford School will be closing at 12pm due to flooding risk.More updates as we get them. Email any updates on roads from Auckland to Mangawhai to [email protected] DETAILS YOU MAY NEED:WATERWAYS: To report stormwater or flooding issues requiring urgent attention, phone council on 09 301 0101. Report a water, wastewater fault: https://www.watercare.co.nz/Faults-outages/Report-a-fault Please use the online chat function first for Watercare if possible.REPORTING ROAD FAULTSWait times at the call centre can be long. To free up the call centre to focus on the more life-threatening slips and landslides please report the less urgent issues via online.To report slips contact Auckland Council on 09 301 0101.For landslides and issues that might affect public roads or property, contact Auckland Transport on 09 355 3553.To report roading maintenance issues online:https://contact.at.govt.nz/... report slips contact Auckland Council on 09 301 0101.

Overnight closures are needed at the Southern Connection, on State Highway 1 (SH1) north of the Johnstones Hill Tunnels, to carry out the thermoplastic line marking to complete the final road layout. This area was recently paved with the final OGPA asphalt, and thermoplastic lining (a long-life road marking material) can only be put down a minimum of four weeks after the paving has taken place. To facilitate these works, SH1 northbound (Silverdale to Pūhoi) and southbound (Pūhoi to Grand Drive) will be closed from 9pm to 5am on:• Sunday 14 May to Thursday 18 May• Sunday 21 May to Thursday 25 MayWhen the closures are in place, there will be a detour along Hibiscus Coast Highway (HCH) and/or SH16. A stop/go operation will be in place on HCH to manage traffic safely.This work is highly weather dependant and can’t be done in the rain or if the ground is wet. The team have allowed contingency in these two weeks, however if there is significant rain during these dates, the work will need to be pushed out to the next fine night. To keep up to date with the closures, please check here or the project website nx2group.com While all efforts have been made to limit disruption to traffic flows, we encourage you to plan your journey over this time and check the Waka Kotahi Journey Planner before heading out https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/(Looking for a builder? 3 Dimensional Builders Ltd offer fixed price new builds to customised options, renovations and fully bespoke builds.)

Struggling families are getting caught in a poverty trap by racking up hundreds of dollars of debt using buy now pay later schemes for meat, nappies and other everyday essentials, budget advisers warn.Financial mentors are increasingly alarmed by the number of people buying groceries through lenders Afterpay and Zip, as low-income whānau struggle to cope with the cost of living.At a Mad Butcher store in Christchurch, every shopper spoken to by RNZ was buying meat using a buy now pay later service.Cleaner Mei said she used Afterpay to buy $120 meat packs for her family of six because she could not afford to pay up front."It's my pay-day today and I'm just about broke - that's just food - and I've only got my meat so far. I need to go to Pak'nSave and spend the rest of my money there," she said.Mei said she was paying $300 a fortnight in Afterpay bills for meat alone."I can't get out of it. I'm continuing to Afterpay all my meat from now on. It's just a repetitive cycle that I'm stuck in now. I suppose it's like a gambler, going to the machine and putting in $20," she said.Another shopper - a mother-of-three on a benefit - said felt she had no choice but to buy food using Afterpay."A mother will do anything to feed her kids," she said."If you were really strapped you could do a whole week's shop on Afterpay at the Mad Butcher, but two to four weeks later, if you have to do that the next week as well, eventually the payments stack up on each other."You're already broke, you've got to rob Peter to pay Paul."She had just managed to pay off her Afterpay bills, but another big expense was never far away, she said."It just depends on good week or bad week. My son just started high school and needed a school uniform. So I had to Afterpay some things for that and try to get a Chromebook. If it wasn't for my mum helping me out, I'd probably be doing more Afterpays to get through," she said.Under buy now pay later schemes, customers could pay for purchases over several interest-free instalments, side-stepping credit cards and pay-day loans, but users who failed to make repayments were stung with late fees.The latest figures from credit bureau Centrix show a record 10.5 percent of buy now pay later accounts were in arrears at the end of March.According to Consumer NZ, just over 25 percent of New Zealanders had a buy now pay later (BNPL) account, a figure that had remained consistent through the last 18 months.The data showed 20 percent of BNPL users accumulated debt from essentials such as groceries, bills and fuel, while 35 percent paid for services with a credit card, leaving them vulnerable to a second cycle of debt.When mother-of-three Larissa could not afford groceries like milk, bread and nappies she turned to buy now pay later lender Zip to stock up on family staples at The Warehouse.The financial juggling act had left her $700 in debt and despondent about living week to week in an effort to feed her children."It sucks having to go through all of this every week just to manage," she said."You've got to do what you've got to do. I would like to stop using it at some point but that's when I'm in a better financial situation, like my kids aren't in nappies."(Need help with your debt? Contact Debtfix, New Zealands first debt charity)Whanganui Budget Advisory Service manager Sandy Fage said families were getting into debt just to survive."It's horrendous. I don't know how soul-destroying it must be to be in that position, and then go: 'How do I get some meat for my family?'," she said.Fage said low-income earners could not always rely on food banks so it was only natural for them to ride out a financial storm with buy now pay later lenders.Good Shepherd head of microfinance Natalie Vincent said 90 percent of the organisation's loan applicants were buy now pay later users, some of whom had multiple accounts."People using buy now pay later to buy essential items like food is telling a troublesome story about the position New Zealand families are in at the moment," she said."The debt can become unmanageable quite quickly and spiral out of control, and then it causes all sorts of problems."Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment officials were considering draft government regulations for the buy now pay later sector to reduce the risk of people falling into a debt trap.Under the proposed changes, lenders would have to do robust affordability checks for loans of more than $600, but financial advisers argued the threshold was far too high for people on low-incomes.Natalie Vincent said any kind of threshold for credit checks was inappropriate."At $600 that wouldn't capture our clients or those on limited incomes or with low levels of credit to the buy now pay later service. These are the people who are vulnerable to harm from using a buy now pay later service," she said.A Zip spokesperson said the company conducted credit checks on all customers and subscribed to an indebtedness indicator that ensured it did not lend to people that were behind on payments to other BNPL lenders.Customers with overdue payments had their accounts frozen, default fees were capped at $40 and Zip had a hardship policy to help people struggling to make repayments, she said.A Mad Butcher spokesman said it was up to customers to choose the payment option that best suited them.Afterpay and The Warehouse did not respond to RNZ's request for comment.

By Anna Sobek* for The ConversationComment - I was part of a team that recently discovered human-made pollutants in one of the deepest and most remote places on Earth - the Atacama Trench, which goes down to a depth of 8000m in the Pacific Ocean.The presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in such a remote location emphasises a crucial fact: no place on Earth is free from pollution.PCBs were produced in large quantities from the 1930s to the 1970s, mostly in the northern hemisphere, and were used in electrical equipment, paints, coolants and lots of other products. In the 1960s, it became clear they were harming marine life, leading to an almost global ban on their use in the mid-1970s.However, because they take decades to break down, PCBs can travel long distances and spread to places far from where they were first used, and they continue to circulate through ocean currents, winds and rivers.Our study took place in the Atacama Trench, which tracks the western coast of South America for almost 6000km. Its deepest point is roughly as deep as the Himalayas are high.We collected sediment from five sites in the trench at different depths ranging from 2500m to 8085m. We sliced each sample into five layers, from surface sediment to deeper mud layers, and found PCBs in all of them.Sometimes called the Peru-Chile Trench, the Atacama Trench is visible in dark blue on this relief map (the sea level is green and mountains are red). Photo: NOAALove to send your Mum or the Magic Woman of your house to chocolate heaven? Treat her to a “PAMPER HER care package” with Swiss Bliss Handcrafted Chocolates & Fine BakingPollutants stick to dead planktonIn that part of the world, ocean currents bring cold and nutrient-rich waters to the surface, which means lots of plankton - the tiny organisms at the bottom of the food web in the oceans. When plankton die, their cells sink to the bottom, carrying with them pollutants such as PCBs. But PCBs don't dissolve well in water and instead prefer to bind to tissues rich in fat and other bits of living or dead organisms, such as plankton. Since seabed sediment contains a lot of remnants of dead plants and animals, it serves as an important sink for pollutants such as PCBs. About 60 percent of PCBs released during the 20th century are stored in deep ocean sediment.A deep trench like the Atacama acts like a funnel that collects bits of dead plants and animals (what scientists refer to as "organic carbon") that come falling down through the water. There is a lot of life in the trench, and microbes then degrade the organic carbon in the seafloor mud.We found that the organic carbon at the deepest locations in the Atacama Trench was more degraded than at shallower places. At the greatest depths, there were also higher concentrations of PCB per gram of organic carbon in the sediment. The organic carbon in the mud is more easily degraded than the PCBs, which remain and can accumulate in the trench.Scientists used this 'core sampler' to extract sediment from the bottom of the trench. Photo: Supplied/ SDU - Anni Glud (author provided)A look into the pastThe storage of pollutants means ocean sediment can be used as a rear-view mirror on the past. It is possible to determine when a sediment layer accumulated on the seafloor, and by analysing pollutants in different layers we can gain information about their concentrations over time.The sediment archive in the Atacama Trench surprised us. PCB concentrations were highest in the surface sediment, which contrasts to what we usually find in lakes and seas. Typically, the highest concentrations are found in lower layers of sediment that were deposited in the 1970s through to the 1990s, followed by a decrease in concentrations towards the surface, reflecting the ban and reduced emissions of PCBs.For now, we still don't understand why the Atacama would be different. It is possible that we didn't look at the sediment closely enough to detect small variations in PCBs, or that concentrations have not yet peaked in this deep trench.These concentrations are still quite low, hundreds of times lower than in areas close to human pollution sources such as the Baltic Sea. But the fact we have found any pollution whatsoever shows the magnitude of humanity's influence on the environment.What we can say for sure is that the more than 350,000 chemicals currently in use globally come at a cost of polluting the environment and ourselves. Pollutants have now been found buried below the bottom of one of the world's deepest ocean trenches - and they're not going anywhere.* Anna Sobek is a professor of Environmental Chemistry and Head of Department of Environmental Sciences at Stockholm University. (Disclosure statement: Anna Sobek receives funding from The Swedish Research Council (VR), Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas), Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.)

Warkworth RegionMonday 8th May - Partly cloudy. A few showers, mainly this morning. Fresh northeasterlies.Tuesday 9th May - Rain developing in the morning, some heavy, squally thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. Strong northeasterlies, turning lighter northwesterly in the afternoon.Heavy Rain WatchPeriod: 13hrs from 10am - 11pm Tue, 9 MayArea: Auckland including Great Barrier Island, and Coromandel PeninsulaForecast: Periods of heavy rain with squally thunderstorms possible. Rainfall amounts may approach warning criteria.Wednesday 10th May - A few showers, clearing to fine for a time in the afternoon and evening. Fresh northerlies, turning westerly in the morning.Thursday 11th May - Showers, becoming isolated with longer fine breaks later. Strong westerlies, easing.Friday 12th May - Fine. Southerlies.Saturday 13th May - Fine. Southerlies developing.Sunday 14th May - Fine with light winds.Love to send your Mum or the Magic Woman of your house to chocolate heaven? Treat her to a “PAMPER HER care package” with Swiss Bliss Handcrafted Chocolates & Fine BakingMangawhai RegionMonday 8th May - Partly cloudy. A few showers, mainly this morning. Fresh northeasterlies.Tuesday 9th - Heavy rain, squally thunderstorms possible until evening. Northerlies.Heavy Rain Warning - OrangePeriod: 12hrs from 7am - 7pm Tue, 9 MayArea: NorthlandForecast: Periods of heavy rain, with squally thunderstorms possible. Expect 70 to 90 mm of rain, with possibly more in localised areas. Intensities of 10 to 20 mm per hour, but thunderstorms may produce downpours of 40 mm per hour or more in localised areas.Impact: Heavy rain may cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips are also possible and driving conditions may be hazardous.Wednesday 10th - A few showers with westerlies.Thursday 11th - Partly cloudy with westerlies.Friday 12th - Fine. Southerlies.Saturday 13th - Fine with southerlies.Sunday 14th - A few showers with light winds.

When do the new toll prices take effect?The new toll prices will take effect from 12.01am on Saturday 1 July 2023.What are the price changes?Trips for light vehicles will cost 20 cents more, and trips for heavy vehicles will cost 40 cents more.Why are toll prices increasing?Toll operating costs have increased by 10 cents since they were last reviewed in 2011 and timing for debt repayments needs adjusting. The toll price increase is in line with the cost increase.Where does money from a toll go?Most of the money goes towards debt repayment, with $0.80c going towards operating costs to run the tolling business, and a component is spent on GST.For example: From a $2.60 toll, $1.39 goes towards debt repayment, $0.80c goes towards operating costs to run the tolling business and $0.41c goes to Inland Revenue as GST.Are any other charges increasing?Customers who purchase prepay trips at service stations will be impacted by a service fee increase. Our service provider is increasing the transaction fee from $1.20 to $1.50All other charges remain unchanged.I have a toll road account. Do I need to do anything because of the toll price increase?No. Since tolls are automatically debited to your account they will be charged at the new rate from 1 July 2023. You may want to review your top up amount to ensure it’s sufficient to cover your current travel requirements.I have unused pre-purchased trips. Will I have to pay more when prices increase?No. For trips purchased prior to 1 July 2023, you will not need to make up the difference. The system will recognise that the trip has been paid for, as opposed to how much the trip costs. Please note: Trip passes purchased before 1 April 2023 are valid for 2 years, and trip passes purchased from 1 April 2023 are valid for 3 months.Do toll prices increase each time the consumer price index (CPI) goes up?No. Debt repayments are impacted by inflation and this does contribute to a price increase, but a price increase only occurs at select times. The last price increase was in 2019.

Warkworth RegionSaturday 6th May - Mostly cloudy and a few showers. Fresh northeasterlies.Sunday 7th May - Partly cloudy, with isolated showers, mainly in the northeast. Fresh northeasterlies.Mangawhai RegionSaturday 6th May - Mostly cloudy with a few showers. Northeasterlies.Sunday 7th May - Partly cloudy with the odd shower possible. Northeasterlies.