Recent stories
We are pleased to bring you the latest from around the Taupō & Tūrangi communities. Reporting local, supporting local.
If you have news to share contact news@tauponews.co.nz
Answering the call
Taupō’s Anneke Jacoba Dinnington has been honoured with a King’s Service Medal in the New Year Honours List 2026.
Sailing into 2026
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.
It’s glow time
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.
Change of guard for VGLT
The JB behind VGLT is stepping sideways.
Christmas ‘angels’ hard at work
The ‘Awhina Christmas Angels’ have been hard at work this week sorting hundreds of donated Christmas presents to give to children all over the district.
Head students ready to help out
Taupō-nui-a-Tia College’s head students for 2026, Leroy Walker and Samara Thatcher and deputies Will Mortimer and Adah Williams are glad to have got through the selection process.
The house built with love
The community came, it built a house and now Hospice is $220,000 better off.
Mentors make the difference
It only takes two hours a week to make a big difference in someone’s life, but a local mentoring initiative is struggling to find male role models to make it happen.
It’s all downhill from here
It’s the most fun you can have on four wheels and it’s rolling up fast on the calendar.
Rangatahi are busy putting their go-karts together, while adults scheme up new ways to foil their opponents in the upcoming Blue Light Trolley Derby at Spa Park on November 15.
Winter Festival funds distributed
The 10th annual Malcolm Flowers Insurances Taupō Winter Festival has been hailed a huge success again this year, not only delivering a vibrant programme enjoyed by thousands, but also generating funds that are now going back into the community.
Community fund opens
Non-profit organisations are being invited to consider the Mercury community fund. The fund, open from September 15 to October 15, is seeking applications from eligible individuals, charitable or non-profit organisations.
Te Hapori Ora – The Village of Wellbeing
supporting the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge as a volunteer group has become something meaningful for Te Hapori Ora, says Brendon (Hākuwai) Eriksen-Downs, chief executive of Te Hapori Ora - The Village of Wellbeing.
Creative Taupō launches rebrand
One of Taupō District Council’s major strategic partnership initiatives which was awarded funding earlier this year is set to go public with its aim of supporting and growing the arts sector in the district.
Learning new skills as an adult
Grownups shouldn’t stop learning and that’s what the Festival of Adult Learning Ahurei Ākonga is all about.
Calling all sports people
People have just over two weeks to get their nominations in for the Taupō District Sports Awards.
100 years of solidarity
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ), originally the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union, was fouinded in 1925 by a group of 16 women who sought community and friendship, addressing the isolation and hardship faced by women in rural settings.
Taupō is heating up
Winter seems to have come and almost gone with the minimum of fuss. With the sunlight hours getting noticeably longer, and the rhododendron trees already bursting with flowers, there’s reason to be upbeat.
A wild and ‘Woollies’ adventure
When Taupō’s Pam McLeod wants to go to Woolworths nothing stops her, not even her wheelchair.
Triumph over adversity
Michael Brennan is dealing with a fair bit of adversity in his life at the moment but he continues to share his time to help others.
Spinning the wheels
Taupō’s major events often have spin-offs that extend far beyond the excitement of the big day itself. Taupō News profiles the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge and some of the community groups that benefit in a five-part series.
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