Tracey Roxburgh

Queenstown needed a convention centre and should look to Auckland for guidance in funding it, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday.

The Cinderella Carriage has arrived, the ice rink is ready, performers have made it to Queenstown and the resort is bracing itself for the 37th annual Queenstown Winter Festival, which officially begins tonight.

Mulled wine is being prepared, winter woollies are on standby and Queenstown is ready to party.

Mulled wine is being prepared, winter woollies are on standby and Queenstown is ready to party.

Arrowtown rugby supporters have been issued with a call to arms by Bulls coach Simon Spark before the team's final White Horse Cup defence of the 2011 season.

Up to 1000 skifield workers in Queenstown and Wanaka remain in limbo as all fields in the area stay closed because of a lack of snow.

"Frustrating" was the only word NZSki chief executive James Coddington could find yesterday to describe the complete lack of snow on skifields, which is now leaving 540 NZSki staff without income.

After "testing the waters" in Wanaka, a volunteering matching service will be started across the Lakes District and Central Otago regions next month.

The cycle trails on Ben Lomond Recreational Reserve may be known collectively as the Queenstown Bike Park after tomorrow's meeting of the Queenstown Lakes District Council's community services committee.

Both Wakatipu and Arrowtown rugby teams walked away with wins on Saturday, Wakatipu chalking up a narrow win over Toko at home and Arrowtown romping home against Owaka in the second round of the countrywide competition.

"Several obvious shortfalls" in the Boffa Miskell urban design critique, which criticised Lake Hayes Estate, have been pointed out to Queenstown Lakes district councillors by Clark Fortune McDonald and Associates principal Neil McDonald - including the company critical of the subdivision was largely responsible for its original plan.

As expected, The Remarkables has delayed its opening day in what was described as a "massively disappointing and hugely frustrating" decision.

It has taken five years to turn the dream of having an ice rink in the Queenstown CBD for the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival into a reality, but organisers learned yesterday resource consent had been granted.

One case of elder abuse is reported to Age Concern Queenstown every month and as far as co-ordinator Helen Stevens is concerned, "one is too many".

A cutting-edge information guide which encompasses Queenstown within an online, interactive "one-stop information show" was launched in the resort yesterday, and dozens of operators have already taken to the new technology.

The younger members of the Queenstown community are being encouraged to become involved in this year's American Express Queenstown Winter Festival - now less than a fortnight away - with plenty on offer to entertain children.