Queenstown is enjoying a sunny, peaceful and adventurous start to Christmas Day.
Hundreds of people took morning strolls through the resort town, with several taking a dip in Lake Wakatipu while others paraglided down from Bob's Peak, and the faithful attended morning service at St Peter's Anglican church, on Church St.
Paragliders Angelique Vinnedge (24), Billy Waller (25) and Sophie Rolleston-Smith (27), from Canada, the USA, and UK respectively, but living in Queenstown, were packing up their wings after an exhilarating 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."
At Queenstown Bay, Irish couple Ali O'Regan (30) and Myles Carey (32), who live in San Francisco and arrived yesterday on a two-week trip, carried on their tradition of taking a Christmas morning dip.
Ms O'Regan said: "We go for a swim in Ireland every year, it's a tradition, so our families are going to be very jealous when they see this - it's a lot warmer here!"
Meanwhile, scores of parishioners celebrated Christ's birthday at St Peter's 9am service.
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.
