Thrills, spills, mid-winter swims, splashes, dashes, sprints, hilarity and organised chaos have been par for the course over the past two days, during the Queenstown Winter Festival.
Queenstown police were kept busy over the weekend with drink-drivers and intoxicated people celebrating the Queenstown Winter Festival.
About 45,000 people will inject an estimated $57 million into the Queenstown economy over the next 10 days during the 2014 Queenstown Winter Festival, which opened with a bang last night.
The 2014 Queenstown Winter Festival started last night with a spectacular fireworks display. The $1 million event will draw an estimated 45,000 people and inject about $57 million into the local economy - a far cry from 1975, when the festival was run on $1500 and targeted 5000 local residents who had nothing to do in winter, Tracey Roxburgh reports.
It was not unrealistic that within 40 years Queenstown would be an alpine city with a resident population of up to 65,000, attracting up to 7.5 million visitors a year, primarily from China, former Queenstown Lakes mayor Clive Geddes said yesterday.
Woollen hats, gloves, blankets and hot drinks were not enough to keep the hosts of Australian breakfast show Sunrise warm yesterday morning as they broadcast live from Queenstown Bay.
Queenstown developer Alastair Porter says his company, Remarkables Park Ltd (RPL), has the money to fund a proposed conference centre at Frankton, the company believing it to be the ''optimal site'' and the proposal the one which would deliver the ''greatest economic value to the district''.
Arrowtown School pupil Ana Winders (10) manages to elude a player from The Terrace School, Alexandra, during the Central Otago Rippa Rugby Tournament at the Queenstown Events Centre yesterday.
A Queenstown bar with a colourful recent history has been granted a temporary authority by the Queenstown Lakes District Licensing Committee under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, with reduced hours.
Temporary paralysis, daily vomiting, seizures, coughing up ''black stuff'', violent mood swings and insomnia were all par for the course for those addicted to psychoactive substances, a former addict says.
The stage is being set, fireworks prepared, volunteers organised and performers are packing their bags in readiness for the official opening of Queenstown's 40th Winter Festival on Friday night.
A Queenstown police officer says education is the key to preventing further harm in the community by users of psychoactive substances.
Australian television audiences will be given a bird's-eye view of Queenstown next week when Channel Seven's Sunrise breakfast programme broadcasts live from the resort.
A conversation over a beer about 18 months ago has led to Michelin-star chef Josh Emett's latest business venture, believed to be a world first.
Millbrook Resort has become the first golf club in New Zealand to install an interactive multilingual GPS system in its golf carts.
Guest nights in Queenstown hit an all time high in April, with domestic figures the highest of any single month.
Wakatipu High School's annual theatre production, which opens tonight at the Queenstown Memorial Centre, tackles a serious subject many will relate to.
Despite a temporary ban on legal highs, there was ''no doubt'' the psychoactive substances would be back on the streets of Queenstown and Wanaka ''within a year'', a Queenstown Lakes district councillor says.
Home-made lasagne and brownies on Friday provided all the sustenance required for four Queenstown teenagers, who spent a chilly night at Coronet Peak to ensure they were first on the chairlift for 2014.
Coronet Peak heralded the start of winter in Queenstown this morning, opening the skifield on schedule with a healthy average base of about 30cm across the mountain and about 600 people there to enjoy the first runs.
