Stories by Samantha Gee

Over the past three months, the demand for Te Tāpui Atawhai Auckland City Mission's services has been the highest in the organisation's 100-year history.

Unvaccinated passengers can still travel, if they show a negative test within three days of flying. However, not everyone thinks that's enough to prevent the virus from spreading.

Reducing numbers of snapper, blue cod and crayfish have led to barren rocky reefs on parts of New Zealand's coastlines.

A climate action group are petitioning Nelson City Council to end industrial coal use in the region.

The deepwater division of Nelson-based fishing company Talley's Group has successfully appealed an illegal fishing conviction.

A call to manage a population of deer on private land in Nelson has led to a donation of venison to a food rescue programme.

A group of scientists, photographers and students are behind a Nelson exhibition showing how rangitahi view climate change.

More than three months after severe flooding in Westport damaged hundreds of homes, many residents are left wondering when and if they will be able to return.

Reaching out on social media is helping to boost the number of Pasifika vaccinated in the top of the South Island.

Māori health providers in the top of the South Island - Te Tauihu - are connecting with youth through social media as part of the vaccine rollout.

Almost three months after floodwaters ravaged the coastal town of Westport, 140 people remain in temporary accommodation, living in cabins, motels or with friends and family.

There were 25,000 New Zealanders around the world stuck in front of their screens today, desperately trying to get a space in managed isolation and quarantine in a bid to return home.

There has been some reprieve with an easing of restrictions for hospitality businesses, but after almost a month in level 2 many South Island businesses are still holding out for a level change.

Fatalities and a high rate of search and rescue incidents near one of the most popular huts in the Nelson Lakes has led to several agencies proposing solutions to improve tramper safety.

The new report also found nearly three quarters of the country's reptiles were expected to decline over the next three generations.

Conservation groups and iwi are joining forces in a bid to make Farewell Spit at the top of the South Island predator free.

A free breakfast was an incentive for some tradies to get their Covid-19 vaccination at a pop up clinic in Nelson.

Gathered on the Motueka sandspit near high tide on Tuesday more than a thousand godwits were resting, beaks tucked into their wings as they recovered from their long journey.

Cellphone reception and internet connection has been restored for thousands of people on the West Coast.

A case of Covid-19 in a Middlemore patient who shared a room with three others has raised questions around the screening and testing procedures of those admitted to hospital.

An investigation into the derailment of a 50-tonne locomotive that ended up submerged in the Picton Harbour is expected to take at least a month.

A salvage team have been at work all day in the Picton Harbour to retreive the locomotive that was shunted into the sea two days ago.

Nineteen people have been arrested for flouting alert level 4 rules during anti-lockdown protests this morning, while in Nelson two people were fined after hand delivering offensive anti-vaccination…

More than 40,000 cubic metres of spill material has been removed from sites across Marlborough as it recovers from widespread devastation caused by heavy rain and flooding, almost six weeks ago.

The Marlborough Sounds is preparing for heavy rain this weekend, just five weeks after major flooding in the region.