Hundreds of people took morning strolls through the resort town, several took a dip in Lake Wakatipu, others paraglided down from Bob's Peak, and the faithful attended morning service at St Peter's Anglican church on Church St.
Paragliders Anelique Vinnedge (24), Billy Waller (25) and Sophie Rolleston-Smith (27), from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom respectively, but living in Queenstown, were packing up their wings after an exhilaratingly jaunt.
Ms Vinnedge said: ''This is the start of a tradition.
''It was splendid, perfect conditions, a beautiful sunny day.
''We're going to go and have a big pot-luck dinner, a scavenger hunt and maybe the beach in the evening.''
Mr Waller added: ''Maybe if it's not too windy another flight, in the evening, land on the beach.''
''We go for a swim in Ireland every year,'' Ms O'Regan said.
''It's a tradition, so our families are going to be very jealous when they see this. It's a lot warmer here!''
Scores of parishioners celebrated Christ's birthday at St Peter's 9am service.
The Rev David Wright was full of Christmas cheer during the service and shook everyone's hand as they left including Kitty (9), Mariam (5) and Mani Zaki (8), who helped extinguish the candles after the service - all but the Christ candle which will remain lit.
