An American tourist has appeared in Kaikohe District Court, charged with causing the deaths of two people in a crash near Kerikeri at the weekend.
Two others were also injured in the head-on collision on Saturday evening.
The 66-year-old Californian man has been charged with careless driving causing death and injury.
A police spokesman said the man and his wife had been in New Zealand for a short holiday and were in a rental car.
The spokesman said the tourists turned left out of Puketona Road onto State Highway 10, but turned into the right-hand lane instead of the left.
A short distance later, the couple collided with a northbound car on a bend.
Two women in the car died at the scene: Kylee Anne Rakich, 29, from Ahipara, and Virginia Keogh, 44, from Whangarei.
The 21-year-old man driving the car was injured and taken to hospital, along with an eight-year-old child.
The police spokesman said the American visitors were in anguish over the crash.
