James Beech

A Queenstown recruiter says joining a national network will benefit Wakatipu job hunters and employers alike and offer tougher competition among fellow recruiting firms.

Wakatipu Wilding Conifer Control Group (WCG) chairman Peter Willsman (left), Environment Select Committee member Maggie Barry MP, Central Lakes Trust chief executive Paul Allison (second right) and Sir Eion Edgar, chairman of the Central Lakes Trust and WCG patron, after finishing off one of the tens of thousands of introduced wilding pines which suffocate native biodiversity in the Wakatipu Basin.

The huge, hard empty mountains near Glenorchy are so unending, they appear to have sent everyone around them mad in Top of the Lake, says The Times of London, of the crime drama shot in the Wakatipu.

The gathering of dozens of dedicated volunteers by Volunteering Central last week was ''a great reminder to anyone that there's a real community heart here,'' Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden says.

Two Queenstown pilots remain in hospital today - one in serious condition - after being rescued from the upside-down wreckage of a light plane in a remote valley near Lake Wakatipu.

An official representing contractors who rebuilt New Orleans has three tips for those rebuilding Christchurch: make promises which can be delivered, govern responsibly and respect the community.

A blueprint for an estimated $180,000 restoration has been drawn to save the only gold rush-era jail remaining in New Zealand.

Helping people in times of crisis and thinking on her feet to solve problems have kept Jeanette Anderson volunteering for St John for an extraordinary 27 years.

Wakatipu Community Church volunteers (from left) Fraser Ronald, Neil Logan, Eve Lilly, Jenny Logan and Bill Moers work in the kitchen of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, to keep the Pasta Cafe serving hundreds of free dinners on Friday night.

Queenstown designer Sian Gillanders says she is ''delighted'' her own revamped kitchen has been recognised for its design by a national award.

A movie following the 2013 Coast to Coast screens in Arrowtown tomorrow, two months after a Queenstown tourism company bought the world's longest-running multisport race.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden said awards presented to St John personnel at the annual Wakatipu awards ceremony on Friday night were ''well deserved''.

Matches do not come any closer than the latest clash between Arrowtown and Wakatipu, on Saturday.