A boy with no lifejacket spent an hour swimming away from his burning boat on Lake Taupō while rescue helicopter calls were delayed by police, RNZ has learned.

From the editor Dan Hutchinson: Survive ‘till ‘25’ was the call this time last year and that was always going to be too many punctuation marks.

People are being warned to prepare well if they intend to drift down the Waikato River in Taupō this summer.

Shawn Vennell who celebrated 40 years with Quality Print this month can’t quite believe where the years have gone. From starting as a sheet-fed printing apprentice in the mid-1980s – sweeping out under the machines, he jokes – to now owning and running the business seems to have gone past in the blink of an eye.

Kaz Cederwall, owner operator of Market Central says the local market and its summer evening add-on – Dinner at the Lake – is going from strength to strength.

The town fireworks fizzled at Guy Fawkes’ leaving a community group holding a huge cache of glowing rings, bracelets, wands and ‘Thunder Sticks’. Taupō Community Patrol uses glow-stick sales as its main fundraiser each year, so now it’s setting sights on New Year fireworks celebrations, with a stall on Titiraupenga Street, not far from the prime lakefront viewing areas.

She turned 30 in 2022, officially opening in August 1992, and now the Great Lake Centre is getting a make-over.

A Taupō family has imported an electric hydrofoil boat that they will use for tours on the lake.

 Air New Zealand flew its new electric plane into Taupō last week as part of a reconnaisance trip down the country.

Taupō boxer Connor Campbell has won through to the New Zealand Elite Team, meaning he will travel overseas in 2026 to continue the selection process for the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC).

Taupō tourism professionals were celebrated at an end-of-year awards evening hosted by Love Taupō.

Inspiration and ideas for what to do around the district.