A NSW court hears 81-year-old David Allen Esling, charged with the attempted stabbing murder of his wife of 54 years in April, had formed a suicide pact with her.

What drives people to spend their weekends suffering as they attempt to run 50, 100, or even 200 kilometres through the bush and over mountains?

Recent whale entanglements on the NSW coast highlight the man-made threats marine life face at an increasing rate, and experts say we can expect to see more.

The Cancer Council uses new digital technology to transport more regional cancer patients to treatment.

Chief the bison was killed with a high-powered rifle on a rural NSW property and it is believed the culprits can sell the animal's hide for thousands of dollars.

MORNING BRIEFING: Police investigate what is believed to be a human bone discovered by passers-by at a Port Macquarie beach, while a Sydney northern beach road is closed after a pedestrian was killed by a car overnight.

Corellas were once an inland bird but are now living in coastal areas in huge numbers which is causing human-wildlife conflict. What has driven their sea change and what are the solutions?

A failure to look upward when parking by the river at a favourite roost for local pelicans has left a Port Macquarie man red-faced and his car disgraced.

Chef Julie-Anne Booth, after a lifetime sometimes cooking for royalty, is back home sharing her food experiences with regional food producers.

Early morning walkers in Port Macquarie received a surprise when a koala came walking down the middle of a popular breakwall path. The sighting has sparked renewed concerns about habitat loss and declining koala numbers.

Emergency services are keeping a close watch on large blazes at Middle Creek Road, Kangaroo Creek north of Coffs Harbour, and at Verges Creek north of Crescent Head in northern NSW, after residents were warned to seek shelter.

A woman whose house burnt down in bushfires affecting the NSW North Coast said that she and her husband now plan on leaving the bush due to the hazard.

Robert Donohoe interviewed in Wagga Wagga by NSW Police detectives

An inquest into the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell hears an SES volunteer who was involved in search efforts for the toddler on the NSW mid-north coast, did not respond to police questions.

MORNING BRIEFING: A guest is taken to hospital after fire guts a backpacker hostel in Coogee, while Mert Ney is due back in court over the alleged murder of Michaela Dunn and stabbing of Linda Bo.

People in a packed gallery sit up when inconsistencies begin to appear in the testimony of "person of interest" Paul Savage, a neighbour who claimed he joined in the search for the missing three-year-old.

Three girls aged 12, 13 and 14, are before the courts over 13 grassfires police allege were deliberately lit on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

Police recapture prisoner Matthew Furner, who escaped from custody at Port Macquarie Base Hospital on the NSW Mid North Coast and fled into nearby bushland.

A prisoner recaptured after being on the run for nearly 12 hours on Sunday has been too injured to front court on the NSW mid-north coast.

An innovative plan to flood a fireground is being employed on the NSW mid-north coast to extinguish a fire that has been burning for more than six weeks.

What started as a school project to make art from drink bottle lids has ended up with 3D-printed prosthetic limbs made from recycled plastic.

The number of homes lost to three fires in northern NSW rises to nine as strong winds continue to hamper the efforts of firefighters to bring them under control.

A 3.5-metre leopard seal has come ashore in northern NSW as authorities warn eager onlookers to keep their distance from the potentially deadly marine mammal.

Young, adventurous and enterprising couple Jess Davidson and Andy Hoffman quit their jobs to follow a dream more than a year ago.

Members of a NSW rugby league club who were photographed at an airport wearing offensive t-shirts emblazoned with a topless mermaid look set to face the wrath of the sport's officials.

A search is underway for a small plane that has gone missing while flying two people from Murwillumbah to Taree in northern New South Wales, after it failed to arrive at its destination.

750-year-old Indigenous bones, discovered under a house on the New South Wales mid-north coast, are returned to the place where they were found.

There are reports of property damage in the town of Darawank, north of Forster-Tuncurry on the NSW north coast where a bushfire is burning at emergency level.

Social media vision of three bushfires burning on the NSW north coast. An emergency declaration has been issued by the NSW RFS with homes under threat.

Emergency crews gain the upper hand in fighting 85 fires across NSW but two blazes near Forster-Tuncurry escalate again.

The Port Macquarie koala hospital fears more than 350 koalas may have died in a bushfire south of the town, with staff frustrated they cannot yet access the site.

The honey industry is facing hard times along with other producers, having taken a battering over recent years from the drought and a string of natural disasters.

More than 40 sawfish die in the Fitzroy River catchment, known to be the world's last stronghold for the species.

A private company has unveiled its plans to build a major off-stream dam in the Northern Territory so who is NT Water Pty Ltd?

The discovery of endangered quolls, bilbies, and rock wallabies on islands of habitat in the Great Sandy Desert offers a rare glimmer of hope for wildlife managers.

Farmers who rely on the Ord River say big-city bureaucrats are getting in the way of progress in the WA region's landmark irrigation scheme.

Many Australians regard the beach as a place that belongs to everyone, where no-one can be excluded. But the truth of that notion will now be tested by the High Court.