Two buses crash near Pukaki, Auckland driver caught with 65kg of cannabis, and a Napier woman finds a letter from her house's previous occupant.
1 Two separate bus crashes near Pukaki, 2 seriously injured
Multiple emergency service vehicles responded to two bus crashes within 100m of each other on State Highway 8 near Pukaki this morning.
International tourists were understood by 1News to be among the injured, with 15 people in total taken to hospitals. A welfare centre has been set up at the Twizel Events Centre for the 45-50 people who aren't in hospital.
Road conditions may have contributed to the crash and State Highway 8 was closed for several hours between Lake Tekapō and the intersection of SH80 at Lake Pukaki.
2 Analysis: Blackadder's big chance to force the All Blacks' hand
Ethan Blackadder has been given a rare starting opportunity against Fiji in an area that appears still very much up for grabs. It is the first time since 2021 that the 29-year-old will start a Test, doing so at openside flanker in San Diego on Saturday.
1News digital sport reporter Patrick McKendry writes that his future may be in the No.6 jersey.
3 Auckland's SkyCity casino to close for 5 days after 'host failures'
It will impact the gaming areas only and everything outside the gaming areas will remain open, the company said.
The closure comes after the Department of Internal Affairs made an application to the New Zealand Gambling Commission to suspend the casino's license for identified host responsibility failures.
SkyCity chief operating officer Callum Mallet said "we place great importance on host responsibility and take these failures very seriously."
4 JD Vance introduces himself as Trump's VP pick at Republican National Convention
The 39-year-old Ohio senator is a relative political unknown. In his first primetime speech since becoming the nominee for vice president, Vance spoke of growing up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, his mother addicted to drugs and his father absent, and how he later joined the military and went on to the highest levels of US politics.
5 Driver pulled over with headlights off, 65kg of cannabis allegedly found
A 25-year-old Auckland man was caught with an alleged $800,000 worth of cannabis during a traffic stop in Flat Bush around 9.30pm last night.
The cannabis - weighing 65kg - was split up into bags and was accompanied by a "large quantity" of cash. He was pulled over initially because he was driving without headlights on.
ONE 'REALLY CUTE' DISCOVERY
Napier woman Rebecca Opie found a letter in her roof written in 2007 by a 10-year-old boy who used to live in her home.
Since discovering the letter, the author Fergus Haywood has been found. He has just turned 28. Opie has since invited Haywood to the home to meet him in person.
$80 A WEEK ON FOOD FOR TWO
For many New Zealand households, a large chunk of weekly wages goes towards grocery shopping, especially during a cost of living crisis. Cheap groceries feel like a pipe dream from a bygone era.
It is possible, though, to prepare tasty meals on a shoestring budget. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Well, only if the pudding is made from cheap ingredients, which meal-planning queen 21-year-old Jordyn Hammond knows a thing or two about. She explained to Seven Sharp's Rhiannon McCall how she does it.
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