Guy Williams

A new transtasman service between the Gold Coast and Queenstown will boost tourism in the region, industry bosses say.

The cost and availability of healthcare was the focus of a Clutha-Southland joint candidates' meeting in Queenstown yesterday.

Queenstown's Eichardt's Private Hotel has been rated New Zealand's best at the annual awards of industry magazine Hotel Management.

Wakatipu High School supporters have chosen the money over the bag, raising $95,000 at an event held in a hardware store.

A consortium representing more than 30,000 trampers, hunters, mountaineers and mountain bikers is inviting outdoor groups to bid for a slice of a $700,000 grant for upgrading backcountry huts and tracks on public conservation land.

Queenstown's economy is getting a timely boost as Gay Ski Week QT brings more than a 1000 high-spenders into the resort.

A two-year fundraising effort by Coastguard Queenstown towards building a new operations base has passed the three-quarter mark, but time is running out for the project.

Allegations levelled at former Queenstown man Steve Rout are ''innuendo'' without supporting evidence, the liquidator of failed road construction firm Blue 9 Ltd says.

More than half Queenstown's nightclubs have been found to be breaching fire regulations because of partially blocked exits.

A well-known ''idiosyncrasy'' in the fuel system of the Piper Cherokee aircraft is being considered as a possible cause of the fatal Glenorchy Air crash near Alexandra earlier this month.

Building walking and cycle trails has been all the rage since the New Zealand Cycle Trail had its genesis at a post-GFC jobs summit five years ago. However, the people behind Queenstown's network of trails released their vision for the future 10 years ago. Guy Williams looks at what they hoped for, and how much they have achieved.

Consultants working on a proposed conference centre for downtown Queenstown yesterday unveiled concept plans for a $52.6 million facility capable of holding up to 800 delegates.

It will soon be the Wakatipu's turn as the largest predator control operation in New Zealand's history gathers momentum.