Wairarapa Times-Age (NZ)
There’s smoke but no fire
A Wairarapa woman narrowly avoided having her fingers burnt in a suspected Facebook firewood scam and is warning others to be alert to the swindle. With an extended family to keep warm, and a dwindling supply of firewood, the woman, who the Wairarapa...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Festival has it in the bag
The South Wairarapa town with a knack for creating iconic events is at it again. The programme for the second Featherston Heritage Festival – set for the weekend of November 13-15 – was revealed on Wednesday night and a highlight promises to be a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Rates cap ‘comes with risk’
Higher train and bus fares and fewer services are likely outcomes for Wairarapa residents if the Government’s rates cap legislation is passed next term. So says Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter after Local Government...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Will rodeo rope in support?
A rodeo planned for Masterton has divided the online community, with many strongly opposed, citing animal welfare concerns. But the event’s organiser, South Wairarapa-based Logan Nation, said people should “be curious before being judgmental”. “It’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Rural rates in the spotlight
Council rates could soar 800% for forestry properties in Carterton next year under a proposal that would introduce targeted roading rates. The proposal sought to collect roading revenue from ratepayers in a more proportionate way and followed an...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Rural recovery picking up
After a few rough years, Wairarapa farmers are finally reaping the rewards of their hard work, giving a much-needed injection to the local economy. High sheep, beef and dairy prices in the past two years meant farmers have been able to play catch-up...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Services abruptly stopped
By the end of this week, a popular Kuripuni store will have lost its banking service and remaining postal facilities. The sudden service closures at Kuripuni Lotto and Gift shop on Masterton’s Queen St follow Kiwibank and NZ Post finding store owner...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Butterick bites back in ute tax spat
Wairarapa MP Mike Butterick warned voters that Labour was poised to resurrect its so-called ute tax in two social media posts published after party leader Chris Hipkins categorically ruled out bringing it back. Hipkins ruled out reinstating the Clean...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Turning poop into profits
Sewage sludge has been transformed into premium compost in a trial that could save ratepayers on dumping costs. But whether the initiative will progress beyond a trial is yet to be determined. Carterton District Council teamed up with Compost NZ last...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Illnesses lay Wairarapa low
Wairarapa is not immune to the wave of winter illnesses sweeping the country, with many of the region’s students, teachers and workers suffering from coughs, colds and the flu. The reports of widespread illness come amid increasing respiratory...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Funding reprieve for refuge
A one-off government grant of $70,000 for Masterton’s Kim’s Way night refuge for the homeless “feels like a turning point”, one of its founders says. Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka announced the funding for Kim’s Way yesterday afternoon. It...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Carterton aims to turn sun into savings
Carterton’s council is expanding its solar power stock with the installation of panels at three high energy-use sites. The work comes after the council invested $440,000 of government funding into building a small-scale solar farm on Gallon Rd to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Public areas likely to close during outbreak of bird flu
Closing popular public areas is likely if the deadly bird flu virus spreads here as it is doing rapidly across Australia. A spokesperson for South Wairarapa, Carterton and Masterton district councils said closure of public spaces such as Henley Lake...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The sky’s the limit at Hood
The removal of a “major sticking point” to larger commercial aircraft landing at Wairarapa’s main airport could open up more opportunities to establish a regular air link to the region. A reduced runway safety zone requirement would mean councils and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Quiz of the day
[email protected] 1. What is the oldest trophy competed for by professional sports teams in North America? 2. What is the southernmost American state capital? 3. Who was married to Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1996? 4. The Inkatha Freedom...
Read Full Story (Page 7)
Small meteorites found strewn across Wairarapa
Fragments of a meteor that lit up the lower North Island’s night sky in late July have been located in northern Wairarapa. A network of modern tracking technology allowed a search team from Fireballs Aotearoa to find the small space rocks (meteorites)...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Councils split over future
Wairarapa’s councils are at odds over what amalgamation model will work best for future generations. Yesterday morning, Masterton District Council voted by a majority to submit a Wairarapa unitary authority proposal to the Government’s Head Start...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Merger: ‘So undemocratic’
The fate of Wairarapa ratepayers is in the hands of Wellington councillors and rule-makers – and amalgamation hasn’t even happened yet. Wellington, Porirua and Hutt Valley city councils will meet this week to vote on an amalgamation proposal that...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Transform WINTER SKIN
Why skin is so dry in winter That feeling of tightness after a shower? Blame it on the season. This is what experts mean when they talk about a ‘compromised skin barrier’, and it’s something many of us are experiencing right now. Dryness is caused by...
Read Full Story (Page 2)
Schools could hold cardiac survival key
Teenagers could be a key line of defence in helping people survive cardiac arrest if resuscitation techniques are included in the school curriculum, says Hato Hone St John chief executive Jon Moores. Moores, whose research paper Moving the Dial on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
El Niño impact a ‘hot topic’
Wairarapa farmers are being warned to prepare for the possibility of drier soils and lower rivers as El Niño, formally declared earlier this month, settles over the tropical Pacific. Forecasters say a dry season is far from certain, however. El Niño,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘World-first’ programme now expanding at Pūkaha
In a race against time, 11 of New Zealand’s most critically endangered birds have been vaccinated against bird flu as part of the Department of Conservation’s internationally groundbreaking programme. “What we are doing here is really a world-first at...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Region’s mayors at odds
The region’s mayors disagree over the projected costs to ratepayers of amalgamation options calculated by consultants. Councillors across Wairarapa have been discussing high-level analyses behind the amalgamation options for several months and the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Major builds to transform town’s medical offering
With works ramping up on the new Selina Sutherland Hospital site and Masterton Medical’s facility aiming for completion in December, a modern health hub is emerging that health leaders believe will lift capacity and draw more clinicians to the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Merger vote draws near
Three councils, 51,000 people, one massive decision – join Wellington, or band together as one Wairarapa council. As central government reforms push local councils across New Zealand to rethink how they operate, Masterton, Carterton and South...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Where can people go?’
Wairarapa voices are speaking up against the Government’s plan to give police the authority to move on homeless people. Masterton District councillors Stella Lennox and Andrea Jackson appeared in person before Parliament’s justice committee on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Mum ‘terrified’ by ACC cuts
A tetraplegic solo mother with ongoing health issues faces being left alone overnight with her 6-year-old son after ACC cut her funding. Hazel Harding, 37, uses a wheelchair after she broke three bones in her neck in a swimming pool accident more than...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Laser-focus’ on poultry
Egg and poultry farmers from across the lower North Island are moving their hens inside as they stay “laser-focused” on keeping their birds safe from the risks posed by the H5 bird flu virus. More than 30 farmers attended a meeting in Levin yesterday...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Bird flu cases may soar
A wildlife health expert expects the number of bird flu cases to ramp up over the next week, with the lower North Island the most likely area for initial bird-to-bird transmission. Brett Gartrell, a professor of wildlife health at Massey University’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Pub’s licensing limbo
The battle to get beer flowing again at a historic coastal Wairarapa pub has been stalled by a wall of bureaucratic red tape. Amanda Aitken and Celeste Blakesley, who took over the lease of the Castlepoint Hotel – The Whakataki in March, say they are...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Bird flu challenge looms
Wildlife hospitals and rehabilitation centres across New Zealand have begun to brace for the impact of the H5N1 bird flu virus, after the first case was identified in Wellington this week. Already, they have identified the differing approaches of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Overflows? Over it
In his final weeks, a Masterton man living with bowel cancer was walked out to a portaloo because the town’s sewer network was failing. His wife, Hazel Smith, is still fighting for reprieve several years after his death, as are many other Kuripuni...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
No plans to replace bridge
The Waihenga Bridge on State Highway 53 has closed multiple times this year, stranding locals and choking the local economy, but the Government has no current plans to replace the structure, which is described as “dangerous”. The bridge has closed...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Sky’s the limit for tourism
Wairarapa’s tourism prospects are looking up with dark sky expansion plans, Michelin Guide restaurants nearby, free-trade agreements and ambitious government growth targets. But general optimism at yesterday’s Destination Wairarapa Tourism Summit in...
Read Full Story (Page 3)
Answers sought over hall
Rangitūmau residents have resorted to appealing to the Ombudsman after feeling left out of discussions about the future of their community hall. When local resident John Hart approached Masterton District Council (MDC) – the facility’s owner – in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Sheep savaged in dog attacks
Some Masterton residents are afraid to go out on their rural sections at night after a cluster of dog attacks killed several sheep last weekend. Property owners woke last Sunday morning to find several of their sheep dead or wounded on farmland just...
Read Full Story (Page 2)
$1.8m stoush continues
A contractor removed from a Carterton wastewater project five years ago is being chased for $1.8 million by the district’s council. The dispute has been years in the making, with its origins in 2018 when Carterton District Council contracted Central...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Wairarapa takes out rental market crown
Renters hunting for a home in Wairarapa have suddenly found themselves spoiled for choice, while just over the hill, Wellington’s rental market is quietly heading in the opposite direction. New realestate.co.nz data for June showed Wairarapa recorded...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Quiz of the day
When I was very young, and my parents finally got around to buying a television, I had an unusual favourite programme. It wasn’t or Wacky Races, the favourites of my primary school class. I avidly watched “the numbers”. This was simply the country’s...
Read Full Story (Page 13)
Quick response to emergency callouts
It is taking police officers less than 10 minutes to arrive at the scene of the most urgent family violence, assault and burglary cases. Wairarapa’s median response time for assaults in a high-priority event was seven minutes, while the median for...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Charlotte Hamill-Harris - Netball
Charlotte had an outstanding season umpiring netball in 2025. She was selected for the highly competitive Central Zone Umpiring Squad, a performance-based pathway preparing officials for national tournaments and elite competitions such as the National...
Read Full Story (Page 8)
An environmental tragedy
Thousands of dead sea animals have washed up along the Wairarapa coast near Cape Palliser, with a marine biology expert attributing the deaths to the weekend’s severe storm. Locals are reporting “tens of thousands” of deceased octopuses, starfish,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fee needed to keep Aratoi’s doors open
Wairarapa’s flagship art gallery’s finances are so tight it’s started charging for entry and reduced its opening hours. From yesterday, Aratoi – Wairarapa Museum of Art and History started charging Masterton locals $2 a visit, while others were asked...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hundreds stranded by storm
About 200 people remain isolated along Wairarapa’s south coast as vital infrastructure is repaired following a storm that brought heavy rainfall and flooding. Matt Vins, Wairarapa Emergency Operation Centre controller, said yesterday afternoon that...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Heavy rain fills rivers
Locals had never seen rivers and streams rise as fast as they did yesterday afternoon in parts of South Wairarapa. Heavy rain and strong winds caused road closures and power outages across the district, with authorities urging caution as river levels...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Special Olympics Wairarapa - Athletics & swimming
Special Olympics Wairarapa achieved significant success at national and regional events. The club took a team of 10 to the Special Olympics National Summer Games in Christchurch (the previous two Summer Games had only sent one athlete), and won four...
Read Full Story (Page 7)
Plea to urgently fix bridge
While a Carterton bridge remains vulnerable and in need of urgent repair, drivers are disregarding safety warnings, causing concern for the district’s councillors and engineers. With no funds currently allocated towards fixing the Atiwhakatu Bridge on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Conservation bill friction
Proposed changes to conservation law making it easier to sell off land are causing concern, but proponents say only land of low conservation significance would be affected. The Conservation Amendment Bill also proposes that the Department of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
New speed limits flouted
Damaging traffic signs to protest Wairarapa’s reduced rural speed limits has been branded “not a victimless act of defiance”, but a “direct threat to someone else’s life”. Police and local council representatives say with vandalism rife and speed...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I was totally broken’
There had been many times in Lucy Adlam’s life when, overwhelmed by rage, depression and exhaustion, she contemplated taking her own life. Speaking from the Greytown home she shares with her two children, two cats and rescue dog Meg, one occasion in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Coastal road hangs in the balance
South Wairarapa’s 3200 ratepayers cannot fund a road serving the nation. That’s the message South Wairarapa District Council has sent to the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) in its proposal to safeguard the future of the fragile but significant...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Pump price dip offers hope
With fuel prices heading slightly lower, Wairarapa’s business leaders are cautiously optimistic. New numbers from Stats NZ on Tuesday showed petrol and diesel prices were both down from April to May – petrol by 3.8%, and diesel by 11.4%. Prices for...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Lawsuit money for hospital
The undisclosed millions from a 2024 High Court settlement for widespread structural and seismic defects in the construction of Wairarapa Hospital have resurfaced. Health Minister Simeon Brown announced yesterday that the region’s hospital would be...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
FROM 8-hour results TO 3-hour patches
STEP 1: Cleanse with precision Great skin starts with a clean slate. The Effaclar Foaming Gel Cleanser is a gentle yet highly effective face wash formulated specifically for sensitive, oily and acne-prone skin. Instead of stripping your skin of its...
Read Full Story (Page 2)
Shops join CBD spruce-up
Eleven businesses in central Masterton will receive funding to improve their shopfronts as part of a council initiative aimed at revitalising the town centre. The announcement of who will receive a portion of the $200,000 Town Centre Improvement Fund...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
New digital life for old news
Key news reports from the last months of World War II and Wairarapa’s early post-war years are now just a click away. About 1700 editions of the Wairarapa Times-Age – covering the period from 1944 to 1950 – have been made available online after an...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Councillor wants rates cap
A Masterton District councillor wants to cap next year’s rates rise at 4% because the cost of living is “simply becoming unaffordable”. Councillor Tim Nelson, who is also the principal of Masterton’s Lakeview School, will be telling Masterton District...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
MP defends branded bags
Wairarapa MP Mike Butterick has defended offering branded bags to students in recent visits to the region’s schools. The issue came to light online on Friday morning. A popular political social media commentator, who goes by the name I am Brie...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Bridge closure cuts links
The closure of a damaged bridge has cut off a critical route for a rural Tararua community and fixing the problem could come with an expensive price tag. A single-lane bridge on Alfredton Rd over the Ihuraua River at Alfredton, east of Eketāhuna, was...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Wairarapa’s consent figures building nicely
The prospects for Wairarapa’s construction industry are looking brighter, a leading economist says. Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, said recent building consent data pointed to a construction pipeline in Wairarapa and Tararua that was...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Region’s ageing shift arrives at sharp end
Wairarapa is facing a significant demographic change, a leading economist says. Nick Brunsdon, principal economist and lead demographer at Infometrics, said Wairarapa’s experience of the projected national ageing trend had implications for the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
More turbines for Tararua
The march of the wind turbines through Tararua looks set to continue at pace with Kākāriki Renewables planning a 12-turbine wind farm. The proposed 86-megawatt Mākākahi wind farm, 1 kilometre east of State Highway 2 mid-way between Pahīatua and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Region’s leaders honoured
Lorraine Taylor-Tams loved school from the moment she arrived at the age of 4¾. Making the decision to become a teacher soon followed. “When I was 6, I thought, ‘I think this is me, I’m going to stay here’.” Forty years after Taylor-Tams began her...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Breaking down the Budget
Some Wairarapa community leaders are questioning whether Thursday’s “bread and butter” Budget will do enough for households, schools and services already under pressure. Finance Minister Nicola Willis’s last Budget of the term set aside billions for...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Speed-dating’ for funding
More youth mentors in schools, more trees for the Whakamaru Reserve, and admin support to help electrify the region – those were some of the items on the wishlist of community groups who queued up to speak with potential funders at the third annual...
Read Full Story (Page 2)
Hospital’s capacity crunch
Wairarapa Hospital is one of the most heavily utilised smaller hospitals in the country with “very little room” to deal with seasonal peaks in demand, a new report says. The report by the New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association and APEX, the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Common ground on water
A meeting of about 90 people heard there is broad bipartisan consensus on the need for a strong approach to ensuring water resilience in Wairarapa. The meeting in Gladstone on Friday evening was hosted by Wairarapa Federated Farmers and addressed by...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
In a field of dreams
A new sports plan for Wairarapa could see greater opportunities for people of different abilities and for those from disadvantaged communities. The work proposed to Masterton District Council would build on a Nuku Ora plan to develop a region-wide...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Patient’s weary journey
It was a cold and rainy morning, and still early enough to be pitch-black, when Rachel Webber Whalley and I met on the Woodside railway station platform. Rachel is a kidney dialysis patient living in Greytown. There is no hospital haemodialysis unit...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Cold comfort for ED patients
Patience is running out for some visitors to Wairarapa Hospital’s emergency department who have endured long waits in freezing temperatures. The Wairarapa Times-Age received a copy of a complaint made to Wairarapa MP Mike Butterick asking for “urgent...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A first-ever Tararua triple
More mountain goat than man, Masterton farmer Brendan Varty is the first to complete an audacious triple crossing of the often treacherous Tararua Range. For most people, the Tararuas are a wilderness of rocky ridges, impenetrable leatherwood scrub...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Amalgamation ‘backstop’
While councils scramble to meet the Government’s tight deadline for amalgamation plans, there appears to be an open-ended timeframe for forced plans. Wairarapa councils are racing against the clock to come up with proposals to comply with the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Locals rate Carterton highly
With one of the lowest rates rises in New Zealand this year and a glowing report card from its residents, Wairarapa’s second biggest town is on a roll. Carterton has been given a stellar review by its community in a recent attitude survey conducted by...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olive Press failure hits home
Wairarapa olive growers have had a mixed reaction to the sudden closure of The Olive Press, which managed 14 groves and provided harvesting and processing services across the region. The family-owned company, which had been in business for 27 years,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Fantastic’ rates rise result
A lower North Island council has agreed on the second-lowest confirmed rates rise of any New Zealand district for next year. Including regional councils, it looks set to be the sixth-lowest overall heading into the 2026-27 financial year. This week,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)