Motorcyclist dies

A motorcyclist died and his teenage pillion passenger was injured in a crash with a truck in Hastings on Thursday morning. A police spokesman at the scene said it appeared the truck had pulled out of a driveway and hit the motorcycle. It appeared [the biker] might have been on the wrong side of the road.

Hot month

January 2018 is set to be New Zealand’s hottest month in more than a century, according to Niwa (National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research). And there is unlikely to be respite before February 1, Niwa climate scientist Chris Brandolino said. A mean temperature of 19.85 degrees Celsius has been recorded across Niwa’s seven stations in Auckland, Masterton, Wellington, Hokitika, Nelson, Lincoln and Dunedin to January 23. That is 2.72C higher than average – and a fraction higher than the mean temperature in our next hottest month – February 1998. ‘‘No matter how you splice it, it looks like it’s going to be the warmest month on record,’’ Brandolino said.

Fatal crash

A Tairua woman is dead after a headon crash with a campervan on the Coromandel Peninsula on Wednesday night. The 35-year-old was trapped in the wreckage of her car and died at the scene on State Highway 25 at Whenuakite. Senior Sergeant Simon Cherry said the driver of the campervan, a German man, was in a serious condition. The driver’s two children and wife suffered moderate injuries. Cherry said the German family had imported the campervan, which had a European registration and left-hand drive, at the end of last year. He believed they were touring the country on holiday.