James Beech

The Aspiring Arts and Culture Trust is considering buying its next piece of public art - three metal sculptures by a Wellington artist - for $30,000.

Wakatipu High School pupils will usher in Youth Awareness Week by spending 40 hours in a cage on Queenstown Mall from today to raise funds for overseas aid.

The Upbeats will "bring the party" and test out fresh and exclusive tunes when they return to Queenstown's Subculture tomorrow night, one half of the jet-setting DJ duo promises.

Plans for a Chinese heritage gold-mining trail across Otago could see Arrowtown as a gateway and highlight two historically significant areas in Arthurs Pt and Coronet Peak.

A proposed 15-lot subdivision at Lake Hayes Estate will change the character of Rere Rd and could adversely affect the amenity, a Lakes Environmental report says.

The Lawrence Chinese Camp Trust will channel a $25,000 donation from the Otago Community Trust into its proposed negotiations to buy a 111-year-old joss house from private ownership.

Queenstown restaurateurs Grant and Karen Hattaway will provide lunchtime fare at Steamer Wharf from next month.

Off-roaders tested their driving and general knowledge skills with a fundraising scenic rally drive on Saturday.

Wolverine is a "fantastic advertisement" for Queenstown and the South, and both are poised to reap the ongoing benefits created by movie tourism, Film Otago Southland says.

Comic actor Pio Terei urged parents to make sure their children's "emotional tank" was full, in his closing speech at the annual Blue Light conference on Saturday.

A landslide of opposition has descended on plans for a $4.8 million "competitively priced" residential subdivision at Lake Hayes Estate (LHE).

The memory of a "visionary arborist" who beautified Southland and the Southern Lakes by planting and nurturing thousands of trees was celebrated with the public unveiling of a seat and table yesterday.

They braved mountain bike climbs, down-river rafting, gruelling bush walks, sub-zero temperatures and a snowstorm, but the Queenstown Resort College students who took part in the Explorer Programme were all smiles when they kayaked home to Queenstown Bay last night.

A $90,000 fern sculpture has found a home in Queenstown Gardens almost a year after a Queenstown Lakes District Council sub-committee decided it was not appropriate for Brian Smith Park.

Cold weather is forcing more hungry and diseased, abandoned cats into the heart of Queenstown, in search of food.

Lower Beach St business owners say the quiet month of May is the best time of the year for the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) to replace a 36-year-old corroded sewer pipe, and disrupt traffic for two weeks.

Inaugural Lakes Leisure chairwoman Jane Taylor has stepped down and Lakes Environmental will not replace one of its directors.

The Queenstown Times caught up with Pets n Vets Queenstown manager Fiona Ross and veterinary nurses Clare Temperton and Alexandra Heim at the Gorge Rd clinic, to hear about the explosion in the number of stray cats in the resort and the rocketing cases of feline influenza and Aids they cause.