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.
"What my police contact said is that it was getting on dark, there was no other traffic around to give him any bearings, and he just reverted to instinct" - Northland reporter Lois Williams