The proposed $200 million Fiordland Link Experience Project would create more than 1000 construction and operational jobs and bring $82.5 million a year into the New Zealand economy, an economic report on the project says.
A capacity gathering of private and corporate jets during the festive period means extra income for Queenstown Airport and the district, but underscores the need for more land, the airport corporation says.
The popular 52nd annual Glenorchy Races event is on track to raise an estimated $10,000 for community projects at the top of the lake.
All trampers have been accounted for and confirmed safe after the Dart River was blocked by a massive valley landslip at Sandy Bluff, about 10km above Chinamans Bluff.
A pioneering air traffic surveillance system in Otago and Southland is performing ''superbly well'' two months after a $3 million expansion came into effect, Airways New Zealand says.
South Dunedin cricket fans Joyce and Bevan Sansom were among the crowd at the rain-delayed one-day international between New Zealand and the West Indies in Queenstown yesterday.
An 18-year-old man has been apprehended by Queenstown police following the theft of a $30,000 defibrillator from an ambulance while its crew dealt with an emergency.
Nurturing is a theme throughout the collection of 15 new works by Masterton artist Mandy Emerson, now exhibited alongside a documentary about her in Artbay Gallery, Queenstown.
All major Wakatipu tracks and campsites managed by the Department of Conservation are open for the summer holidays, but trampers are urged to check the latest conditions in the Caples and Dart Valleys.
Young residents and visitors to the Wakatipu are in for plenty of fun when they sign up for the 10-day summer holiday programme at the Youth Booth in January.
Eat Humble Pie co-owner Mike Burke and regular customer Cheryl Ladds prepare to tuck into this year's first batch of Christmas dinner pies, fresh from his bakery, on Sunday.
Tickets for the eighth annual Winery Tour, which is set to rock Gibbston on February 21 for the second consecutive year, are selling well.
An investigation into road links from State Highway 6 to Frankton Flats is designed to prove to the Government the urgency of building the new Kawarau Falls bridge, the safer Glenda Dr roundabout and the pressure-relieving Eastern Access Road.
The Queenstown Community Choir opened the Combined Churches of the Wakatipu Christmas Carols Celebration with Hark! The Herald Angels Sing on Sunday evening.
Eleven grants and scholarships totalling more than $30,000 from the Queenstown-based Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust have helped young New Zealanders gain experience in rural healthcare in places as diverse as Nepal, Tanzania, Kalgoorlie and Ecuador.
Rain and green vegetation does not mean the risk of rural fire is any less this summer, rural fire chiefs say.
The Te Anau pilot who died when a Hughes 500 helicopter crashed near the start of the Milford Track was a ''very experienced and cautious pilot who was very well regarded in the industry'', his employer says.
Up to 80 resident and visiting police officers will be rostered to keep the Wakatipu's streets and roads safe on the days surrounding New Year's Eve, when Queenstown becomes a virtual ''Queens-city''.
Queenstown stands to benefit from up to $2 million of promotion and an extra 30,000 visitors to New Zealand a year, if the proposed $200 million Fiordland Link Experience is built, it is claimed.
Showbiz Queenstown's production of the musical Chicago earned 13 nominations in 17 categories in the Otago Southland Theatre Awards.
