James Beech

Are you fighting fit, do you have a larger-than-life personality and, above all, are you ready to rumble?If the answers are all yes, a newly-launched Queenstown-based professional wrestling training school wants to hear from you.

A provocative "cultural curmudgeon", accompanied by his Oscar-winning wife, will open an exhibition of the latest works by a prominent New Zealand painter, in Arrowtown, early next month.

The arts are just the tonic Kiwis need after the Christchurch earthquake, a dancer from that city performing with the Royal New Zealand Ballet says, before its sold-out Tower Tutus on Tour production in the Queenstown Events Centre tomorrow night.

Tomorrow's leaders continue to hone their skills this week in a series of workshops hosted by leaders in the community and inspired by the television programme The Apprentice.

Christchurch business operators are inquiring in droves about commercial tenancies in Queenstown, especially those with accommodation attached, real estate agents say.

Fresh meat, new bottles of water and non-perishable food are donations the Salvation Army in Queenstown welcomes from Wakatipu residents to aid Christchurch citizens dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake.

A trio of Wakatipu-based medical students from the University of Otago are the first to be awarded a new scholarship by a health trust set up in memory of a Queenstown GP credited with saving rural medicine in New Zealand.

An Oamaru man was quickly corrected when he dared to chastise Royal New Zealand Ballet senior dancer Lucy Balfour for "hooking into the sandwiches" at an after-show function, she says.

Kawarau Jet says it considers the report by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) and its safety recommendations as "constructive criticism" to make waterways safer.

Queenstown Primary School student council members (from left) Ashley Burney (12), Ben Stevens (12), Sam Shaw (12), Bence Csontos (12), Mitchell Mawhinney (12), Felicity Blakeley (12), Hugh Taylor (11) and Kayley Paterson (12) prepare $2 bags of sweets for their stall at tomorrow's school fair.

Cameras began rolling on The Hobbit in Wellington this week. However, there was no assurance location shooting would occur in the Wakatipu.

Tickets for the opening night tonight of an original laugh- and song-packed stage production have almost sold out, and the Wakatipu stars could not be happier.

The Southern District Health Board needs to do a lot more than hold a community meeting about its proposed "one-stop shop" integrated family health centre (IFHC), the Wakatipu Health Trust says.