Rotorua Daily Post
Museum gets $2m boost
Rotorua Museum is “very close” to funding its exhibition fit-out after a $2 million Government grant announced yesterday, Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Andrew Moraes says. Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced the funding during...
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Hot pool mystery
Jayleb-Che Dean’s family is counting down to a day they never wanted to reach. On Wednesday it will be one year since the Tokoroa Intermediate School teacher vanished without a trace from hot pools near Rotorua. For the past 12 months, Jayleb’s...
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Mayor slams ‘cruel’ reform delay
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell has blasted the Government’s “cruel” decision to pause local government reforms, after councils were given just three months to develop merger proposals. Cabinet has decided not to progress any of the proposals it received...
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‘Worthwhile’
Aterminal cancer patient hopes a new lung cancer screening trial set to begin in the Lakes and Hawke’s Bay districts next year will evolve into a national programme. Health Minister Simeon Brown announced on Tuesday that the Government would trial a...
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No rebate for bin delay
There will be no rebate for Rotorua ratepayers despite the three-month delay for a new kerbside collection service that is set to start next week. While the new system is still copping flak on social media, Rotorua Lakes Council maintains the benefits...
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A century of craft
Lee Brothers Cabinets and Joinery has survived the Great Depression, numerous recessions, and changing technology to celebrate 100 years in business. Managing director Paul Ingram reflected on the milestone using a book written by a Lee family...
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‘It’s a fairytale': Married Couple waltz to show victory
For the first time in 10 years of Harcourts Dancing for Hospice, there was a “hung jury” on the judging panel. The four judges grappled with the difficult decision of who would take home the disco ball trophy for the 2026 event. In fact, they even...
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‘I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing’ it
When Sue Johnstone unexpectedly lost her husband, Grant, to a heart attack in 1996, she suddenly found herself at the helm of their Rotorua car dealership franchise. After running a successful business for 30 years, she has decided it’s time to move...
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Pensioner flats to be razed before rebuild
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Rotorua rated hotspot for seasonal work
Rotorua is the world’s fourthbest destination for seasonal hospitality and party work, a new study has found. Cross-border money transfer provider Remitly compared 88 seasonalwork hotspots across 21 countries to identify the best places to spend a...
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First Marriott hotel to open in Rotorua
A135-room hotel will be renovated to become Rotorua’s first Marriott hotel, strengthening the city’s position as a “premium destination”. The Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua on Fenton St will launch as the Rotorua Marriott Hotel in late 2027 after a 12-month...
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‘Town is dead’
One Rotorua retailer has already left the city centre and another says he is looking for a way out, blaming a controversial parking overhaul they say is driving customers away. Rotorua Lakes Council is seeking public feedback on the parking system it...
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‘Cannot be replaced'
Nguyen Nhat Huy is offering a $1000 reward to get part of his “rare” Marvel United board game collection back. The Rotorua resident said he lost “three years of memories” when about $14,000 worth of belongings were stolen from his Ranolf St home in...
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Polytechnic brings back fees-free study
Toi Ohomai is offering school-leavers nationwide a year of free course fees if they study at Rotorua’s Mokoia campus. The initiative comes as the polytechnic looks to reverse falling enrolments and attract more young people into tertiary...
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Abuse, bomb scare: Threats to staff soar
More than 150 incidents of abuse, intimidation, threats and violence have been directed at Rotorua Lakes Council staff over the past five years, according to newly released records. The incidents included alleged assaults, weapon-related threats and a...
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Search for answers
The children found dead at a Rotorua property on Monday were aged 11 months and 3, police have confirmed. A woman found critically injured at the Glenholme address on Monday died at the scene. Police have opened a homicide investigation. Bay of...
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Mayor: Community ‘heartbroken’
Aman has appeared in court on an assault charge as police investigate the deaths of a woman and two young children in Rotorua. Police say the children were found dead at a Glenholme property on Monday night, and the woman died at the scene. The city’s...
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‘I’m just a mum . . . how did this happen’
After a business degree, a law career, three kids and a stint in banking, Adele Pascoe assumed her acting days were over. That was before she walked the red carpet at The Hollywood in Avondale for the premiere of Where Beauty Hides last week. The...
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Duped landlord counts costs of drug operation
ARotorua landlord whose property was caught up in a cannabis growing operation says the organised crime syndicate scammed her and cost her thousands. The woman, who spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post on condition of anonymity, said she rented her...
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Trust to cut 15 jobs Funding crisis forces major Rotorua lakes reset
Te Arawa Lakes Trust, the organisation responsible for most of Rotorua’s lakebeds, will cut staff as it scales back operations after warning it is on the brink of exhausting its operating funds. The trust has blamed what it described as nearly two...
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$65,000 stash
ABay of Plenty urupā was used to stash $65,000 in drug-dealing profits, according to a High Court decision. George Massino Rewita and Crystal Andora Martin have admitted the money, plus nearly $20,000 found at Rotorua and Ōpōtiki properties, was...
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‘Delay tactics’
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is trialling repair options for the deteriorating Ō hau Channel diversion wall, with a decision on the structure’s future likely early next year. Lake advocates say the work falls short of a commitment to fix the...
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Raft rivals unite
The Commerce Commission has approved the merger of Rotorua’s three commercial rafting operators, much to the pleasant surprise of those behind the bid. The ruling, finalised in June, came after months of investigation, during which Rotorua Rafting...
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Vietnamese gangs accused of laundering drug profits
Dirty money from Vietnameserun cannabis hothouses is being laundered through construction, beauty and hospitality businesses, court documents relating to Rotorua drug raids say. Most people arrested as part of a police operation targeting Vietnamese...
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Probe bid a ‘vendetta’
Acouncillor’s bid for a probe into how more than $70 million for two projects came to be included in Rotorua Lakes Council budgets has been voted down. Colleagues described Robert Lee’s investigation request as a “vendetta” and “Groundhog Day” at the...
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Airport’s business park plan gets set for takeoff
Rotorua Airport’s longplanned business park has moved a step closer to reality. A resource consent application seeks Bay of Plenty Regional Council approval for earthworks across about 5.65ha of airport land. The works would prepare land for future...
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‘About us, without us’ — Dispute over lake funding
Adispute over $2 million of lake restoration funding has opened a bigger debate over who shapes the future of Rotorua’s lakes. Te Arawa Lakes Trust (TALT) says a long-running funding agreement created after a Treaty of Waitangi settlement is no longer...
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‘Historical wrong’
The Rotorua Lakes Council will publicly apologise for rejecting a Lakeland Queen petition three years ago, after accepting the Ombudsman’s finding that this was unreasonable. The decision came after councillor Robert Lee presented a notice of motion...
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Investigation ‘needs to happen yesterday’
Forever chemicals have been detected in Lake Rotorua, prompting calls for urgent testing and renewed questions about the safety of food gathered from the lake. Investigators found per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS or forever...
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$319k bill to store, insure, maintain art
Rotorua Lakes Council is spending more than $319,000 a year to store, insure and maintain a $21 million-plus art collection — much of which the public hasn’t seen since Rotorua Museum closed in 2016. The council holds 2878 works of art, including 1526...
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Judge jails pageant boss for charity fraud
Rotorua fashion designer Kharl WiRepa has been jailed for three years after ripping off charities involved in the Miss Rotorua beauty pageant and spending the money on himself. WiRepa, sole director of the Miss Rotorua Foundation, was described in a...
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‘Preventable’: Review
Adamning review into the deadly Mount Maunganui landslide has revealed a litany of failures by authorities who missed opportunities to evacuate campers to safety in a disaster that was “preventable”. Six holidaymakers, including two Rotorua friends,...
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‘Grave concern’ ignored
Rotorua Lakes Council’s approval of a sewerage scheme that routed a pipeline past the culturally significant Lake Rotokā kahi without properly engaging the lake’s governing body broke the law, the High Court has ruled. Justice Kiri Tahana declared...
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‘We still suffer’
The man who murdered Tokoroa schoolteacher Lois Dear in her classroom 20 years ago says he can now forgive himself for what he did. But Dear’s son, Kevin McNeil, says he will never forgive Whetu Te Hiko and he hopes he stays in prison forever. Te Hiko...
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1.13c back on the dollar
The Crown and Rotorua Trust have received about 1c in the dollar back from more than $10 million in loans to iconic Rotorua business QE Health, which is in liquidation. The liquidator has also confirmed the company no longer has the $19m purpose-built...
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The hidden cost of elite sport
Asix-figure family investment, 40-hour work weeks alongside training, and years of fundraising. Those are some of the hidden costs behind young New Zealand athletes pursuing opportunities on the world stage. Whether it’s basketball in the United...
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Survivors reconnect
Doug Green still thinks about the “ifs and buts” of the crash that killed two rugby teammates after a game in 1966. On August 14 of that year — a Sunday — a car carrying four young rugby players was in a head-on collision in the lakeside dairy farming...
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Hipkins: ‘I regret that it got to that point’
Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is committed to ensuring emergency housing does not get “out of hand” in Rotorua again if his party is elected to Government. But he stopped short of an apology to the city. He also says voters are looking for...
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Who gets the Kā inga Ora homes?
Kā inga Ora has been asked for an “urgent update” over who it approves for its new Rotorua houses, following claims more out-oftowners are coming to the city for housing. Percy Poharama from Feeding Rotorua Charitable Trust, which feeds those most in...
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Flood of puppies
Bay of Plenty animal rescue groups are struggling to cope with an influx of dumped and unwanted puppies. Vada’s Angels Animal Rescue Trust founder and team manager Kat Thompson said she and her team were “overwhelmed and exhausted” by the flood of...
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Homeless at risk in cold
Freezing Bay of Plenty temperatures have left unhoused people facing a night-long battle against hypothermia and illness. Support organisations say the bitter conditions are placing vulnerable people at greater risk, adding hardship. The region awoke...
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‘Continuing simply wasn’t sustainable’ Three eateries shut in a week as rising costs, weak spending bite
Three Rotorua hospitality businesses have closed within a week of each other, highlighting the challenging trading environment facing the sector. Hello Stranger Cafe, Ambrosia Restaurant and Bar, and Piccalo Cafe announced closures within days of each...
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Residents threaten legal action over papakā inga
Lake Rotoiti residents are considering taking Rotorua Lakes Council to the High Court over its decision to approve a papakāinga housing development without public notification. The council says the application did not meet the legal threshold for...
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What are the odds of survival?
Rotorua Racing Club chief executive Damien Radesic is having deja vu. Arawa Park is again facing the axe after New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and Harness Racing New Zealand recommended its closure. The recommendation stems from an independent report,...
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Looking back on 50 years of iconic Rotorua firm
Rotorua company Hickey Contractors has folded one month before it would have celebrated its 50th birthday. The company, based in Te Ngae Rd, wound up at the end of June, seven months after a new Aucklandbased owner took it over. Twelve full-time...
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Plan to tackle homelessness
Almost half of people seeking housing assistance in Rotorua are among the highest-need applicants, with new figures revealing the scale of the district’s ongoing homelessness challenge. Rotorua Lakes Council endorsed a strategy to “manage, reduce and...
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$6.5M DOPE BUST
Up to $6.5 million worth of cannabis has been seized in Rotorua after police swooped on what they say is a large-scale organised crime ring. Police say they have dealt a major blow to the drug market, busting an alleged commercialscale growing...
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Bunny TikToks send Rotorua mini golf viral
Filming “funny moments” of bunnies on a mini golf course has led to online fame and increased visitor numbers for one Rotorua business. Rotorua Mini Golf started posting videos of its eight resident bunnies on TikTok in 2023 to see how it might attract...
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Rotorua out on its own, merger deal collapses
Rotorua has been left without an amalgamation partner after a previously “locked in” agreement with South Waikato fell apart weeks before councils must submit their proposals under the Government’s local government reform programme. The Government...
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Locals rally to save iconic Rotorua arches
Rotorua locals are rallying to save the city’s Prince’s Gate Archway before “irreversible” work is done to take it down. Those with construction experience say they want to work with Rotorua Lakes Council to restore the “iconic” arches after the...
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Bird flu cases trigger biosecurity crackdown
Bay of Plenty conservation groups and a poultry supplier are tightening biosecurity measures to safeguard animals after New Zealand’s first confirmed detections of a deadly bird flu strain. A Rotorua-based bird conservation organisation has stopped...
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‘We must keep trying ... they’re human beings’
Two Rotorua councillors have expressed disappointment over changes to the council’s pensioner housing portfolio, with one saying the issue keeps him up at night. Community housing provider Emerge Aotearoa took over management of Rotorua Lakes...
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Mum calls for better disability support
Auckland mother Amie Spence first discovered “something wasn’t quite right” when her son Sebastian began to walk and run. Sebastian, 7, was born premature and suffered a brain bleed during birth. He was diagnosed with “mild” cerebral palsy aged...
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Teen turns school project into business
Izzy Talbot took a Year 13 assignment a little too seriously. The former Rotorua Western Heights High School student was asked to create a fake business last year. As the class became a year-long “step-by-step” guide to creating a business, Talbot...
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1100 parking permits issued amid backlash
Rotorua Lakes Council said its new parking system was operating as expected after its first week, with more than 1100 permits sold since the system was introduced. But concerns remain among some city businesses that the changes are confusing customers...
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‘You cannot replicate history’
Rotorua locals hope the city’s historic Prince’s Gate Archway can be strengthened or rebuilt after the council confirmed it would be taken down for safety reasons. Rotorua Lakes Council said on Tuesday that engineering assessments found the Prince’s...
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‘Butter chicken’ backlash halts political move
One of Rotorua’s most popular local politicians considered putting his hand up for New Zealand First candidacy, but says race-related comments from within the party about Indian culture put him off. First-term Bay of Plenty regional councillor and...
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Is Plenty enough?
Small Bay of Plenty businesses are struggling to keep pace on productivity, a new report suggests. Data from technology company Xero ranked the region in the bottom third of the country for small business labour productivity. It did this by measuring...
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It was ‘the place to be’
Rotorua was “heaving” with visitors at the weekend as those making the most of the long weekend surged to the city, creating a preCovid buzz not seen in years. Rotorua’s accommodation, hospitality and visitor sectors say with the long weekend for...
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Pensioners fear being homeless by Christmas
Rotorua Lakes Council is exploring options to redevelop the city’s largest pensioner housing complex. A resident of the Lucas Pl site in Fenton Park says some tenants do not want to move and fear they will be “homeless by Christmas”. The council says...
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Rotorua Hospital adds 18 beds for winter
Eighteen temporary beds have been added to Rotorua Hospital wards to help manage winter demand. It comes as a Rotorua GP reports a “usual winter” with many viral respiratory illnesses hitting patients, while PHF Science data shows calls to Healthline...
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Space to build 400 homes: Historic farm to be sold
Hunts Farm is on the market with the potential for a developer to build 400 homes. The Hunt family has owned the 54ha freehold block between Parklands Estate and Matipo Ave in Sunnybrook since 1920. The land was identified as a growth area within the...
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Dad dies minutes after escaping house fire
ARotorua man described as an incredible father died minutes after escaping uninjured from his burning home yesterday, his son says. He told the Rotorua Daily Post it was hard to believe his 60-year-old father survived a burning house only to die from...
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Iconic hotel for sale ‘There are investors out there'
One of Rotorua’s most iconic hotels is for sale, the city’s fourth big accommodation property to come on the market in recent months. Rydges Rotorua on Tyron St is on the outskirts of the Whakarewarewa geothermal village. It has 203 guest rooms and...
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‘Triumph of spirit’: ‘A fresh start' for Jakob Teen’s nine-month hospital stay finally set to end
At last, a home is on the horizon for a disabled teenager who has spent the past nine months living in Rotorua Hospital. And all it took was for Jakob Tindle to turn 18. His Taupō-based mother, Melissa Humphrey, says she is now excited about her son’s...
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Star stands by his ex-Lotto presenter mate
Actor Temuera Morrison is standing by his former Lotto presenter friend despite his crimes, while experts say taxpayer money spent on five years of gardening leave is “very unlikely” to be recovered. Russell Harrison was arrested five years ago in an...
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Rotorua firm fined for releasing harmful gas
Along-standing Rotorua business and one of its senior employees have been fined after admitting they deliberately discharged a potent synthetic greenhouse gas into the air. In the Rotorua District Court last Thursday, Judge Louis Bidois said...
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L.A.B back with new
Anew family-friendly summer festival is coming to Rotorua. Bay of Plenty band and foundation partner L.A.B say they are “really excited” to bring their new one-day festival 8th Wonder to the “perfect” spot in Rotorua on January 23. The festival will...
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Retailer fears losses from parking shake-up
ARotorua shop owner fears new city centre parking rules coming into effect today could hurt his business. Rotorua Lakes Council’s overhaul includes having two paid parking zones in the CBD and areas only available to people who buy permits for all-day...
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‘It was a big job’
An iwi-based housing organisation has rescued a failed development on Frank St in Rotorua, allowing 39 families to have new homes. Kōhanga Rākau Housing has just finished building rental homes in Koutu after swooping in to buy the unfinished Mountview...
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