More heavy rain is set to hit Auckland and other North Island regions from Sunday.

If you've broken a beloved lamp or uncovered a hole in your favourite pair of jeans, sometimes it's easier to buy a new item rather than finding the time the time to repair them.

However, a growing global movement aims to instead teach and change attitudes towards how we treat pre-loved items.

The Darebin Repair Cafe, based in Melbourne, has been repairing items for free for nearly five years and has saved two tonnes of waste from landfill.

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The group, who are part of the International Repair Cafe Foundation, are run by dedicated volunteers, all passionate about improving environmental attitudes.

"We try out best to fix most things," branch co-founder Amanda Healy told 9news.com.au.

"We have so many people come through the cafe over the past years, which is great.

"It's really amazing. This creates a shared passion of keeping things out of landfill. We have a lot of people come repeatedly and people love coming and getting involved."

The first repair cafe first opened in the Netherlands in 2009 and has now become a worldwide movement.

There are more than 2573 cafes around the world who fix an average of 46,300 items a month.

The cafe is run from a group of repairers who specialise in a certain skill-set.

At the Darebin event over the weekend, fixer PJ volunteered his time, bringing his extensive tool kit down to help fix electrical items including a lamp made from a jewellery box which has particular sentimental value for its owner.

READ MORE: Man dies after hit by car on property in Victoria 

Contact reporter Allanah Sciberras at al***************@******om.au

"It needs to be rewired and the pipe needs to be replaced in the lamp, so this is what I am doing today," he told 9news.com.au.

"The lady has went to Bunnings to pick up a part that I need and we are hoping to finish fixing this today."

PJ, who is semi-retired, only moved to Melbourne six months ago from Sydney and has been volunteering his time over the past three events.

Specialising in electronics, PJ said he enjoys spending time chatting with different people.

"I didn't have a lot of connections before I moved to Melbourne, so it's stimulating and it's great to use my head to fix things and problem solve. I love making things work," he said.

"It's great to be in the community and chat to people. It's hard when you get to the end of your working life and suddenly stop, so it's great to have these things."

It's a similar story for Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald, who is one of Australia's leading clothes-mending practitioners.

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Lewis-Fitzgerald volunteers her time when she can to teach people how to mend and repair their clothing.

She has been a business-owner and writer and has published her own book which focuses around mending.

"It's great to use my skill-set to help and teach people around mending and repairing but it's also great to be around people and being a part of a community full of people who are passionate about the same things," she said.

READ MORE: Man dies after being pulled from the water at Sydney beach

"This is a good place to start conversations about the environment. It's a place where people can learn about something that needs to be or how it can be fixed.

"This is a place to get things replaced and keep them out of landfill."

The Darebin Repair Cafe runs every two months at different locations in Darebin and is one of many cafes based around the world.

Contact reporter Allanah Sciberras at al***************@******om.au

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Shark sightings are expected to increase in Queensland this summer as temperatures continue to rise.

Experts say beach-goers on the Gold Coast should expect increased shark sightings as the warmer weather lures sharks closer to the shore.

"Bull sharks are very active in summer in our local waterways," marine biologist Daryl McPhee said.

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"We expect to see a lot more bull shark activity if we get more bouts of rain over the next month or two."

Shark populations are not on the increase despite the expected uptick. Instead, McPhee says swimmers are just "more aware of them" thanks to new shark spotting technologies.

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While it's easier than ever to spot sharks from above, swimmers are still being warned to exercise caution when choosing a swimming spot.

"Where you find shark food, you find sharks," he said.

"It's always good to be safe in the surf, so if there's bait balls and diving birds, think again about your water-based options."

READ MORE: Video shows 'freak' moment lightning strikes boy on NSW beach

The warning comes just days after three bull sharks were spotted on a drone swimming in the shallows at Burleigh Headland on the Gold coast.

Just 24 hours before that, thousands of beachgoers were forced to evacuate the water twice following two potential sightings.

A man has died and two others have been hospitalised – one in a critical condition – after being pulled from the water at a beach in Cronulla, in Sydney's south.

Three men got into trouble at Shelly Beach at around 1:50pm this afternoon. While one was able to make it back to the beach, the other two were found unconscious in the water and were pulled to Cronulla Beach by nearby surf lifesavers on jet skis.

One of those men, whose age is unknown and who is yet to be identified, died at the scene.

READ MORE: Boy remains critical after being struck by lightning at beach

The other, in his 40s, is being treated by critical care medical staff, after being unconscious and underwater for three minutes.

He is in a critical condition and has been taken to St George Hospital in an Ambulance.

The third man, aged in his 20s, is conscious and has been taken to St George Hospital in an ambulance for further treatment.

It is also believed that a rescuer is being treated for exhaustion after swallowing water. 

Surf Life Saving NSW's Director of Lifesaving, Joel Wiseman, said volunteer rescuers are under enormous strain after recent drownings across the state.

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Today's death means 14 people have now drowned on the NSW coast this summer.

"We are experiencing one of our busiest summers ever with huge rescue numbers, and our volunteers have put in a massive effort to try to keep people safe along the coast," Wiseman said.

"Despite the growing drowning toll, volunteers and lifeguards should be very proud of what they've achieved so far this summer.

"There are a combination of factors making this summer so deadly, including people taking risks, alcohol consumption, and crowded beaches which can lead beachgoers to seek out unfamiliar and unpatrolled locations.

"Rip currents remain the number one coastal hazard and the 14 coastal drowning deaths this summer have all occurred at unpatrolled locations."

‘It quickly became obvious that the weather was worse than predicted.’

Auckland is under a state of emergency following record rainfall and widespread damage.

The bach was also ‘worn and tired’ and so cold in winter the walls ‘cried’.

The price of beer is set to rise yet again, with the tax raised by the ATO.

From February 1, the price of an average schooner could be $12, with the excise increasing by 3.7 per cent.

The tax on beer is tied to inflation, and rises every six months.

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And with the consumer price index rising 7.8 per cent over the last year, it means a larger than usual jump in the tax.

That includes beer sold on tap at the pub and in cartons at the bottle shop.

The current taxes mean Australians pay more in beer tax than every other nation, save for Japan, Finland and Norway.

February's rise comes six months after an even bigger jump in the tax.

READ MORE: More than 400,000 Aussies plan to quit drinking in 2023

In August last year, the price of beer jumped by four per cent because of the excise alone.

The Brewers Association is now lobbying Treasurer Jim Chalmers to put a two-year freeze on tax increases.

In a statement to 9News, a spokesperson for Chalmers said the government would listen to the proposal, but indicated no freeze would be forthcoming.

"This is the usual, automatic indexation change that happens twice a year under governments of both persuasions and it's not a new decision of this government," the spokesperson said.

"We listen respectfully to ideas put to us but these have to be weighed up against other priorities and fiscal challenges – with a budget that's heaving with a trillion dollars of debt."

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According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australians drank 74.6 million litres of beer each year.

This puts it less than a million litres ahead of wine, the second most popular alcoholic beverage.

If you've ever thought your selfie game is pretty strong, there's some bad news for you: it will never be as strong as this bear's is.

Dubbed "Selfie Bear", the animal has gone viral for getting up close and personal with a wildlife-monitoring camera in Colorado, resulting in some 400 pictures.

The pictures were taken in November last year, but were re-shared by City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) this week.

READ MORE: Snake found attempting to catch ride in NSW RFS helicopter

"Recently, a bear discovered a wildlife camera that we use to monitor wildlife across Boulder open space," it said on Twitter.

"Of the 580 photos captured, about 400 were bear selfies."

The organisation said on its website that animals mostly just walk past and ignore the cameras, nine of which it has set up to gather important information about wildlife, including what species are in the area.

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"The motion-detecting cameras provide us a unique opportunity to learn more about how local species use the landscape around us while minimizing our presence in sensitive habitats," said Will Keeley, senior wildlife ecologist for Open Space and Mountain Parks, said last year.

"These cameras play an important role in helping OSMP staff identify important wildlife areas. The information we collect from them is used to recommend habitat-protective measures to help protect sensitive natural areas."

Many had spent the night in cars or with neighbours