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Queenstown will host what is believed to be the first event of its kind in the region this July, bringing together local business owners, creatives, students, technologists and AI practitioners for a community-led AI hackathon.

Five people have been injured after the Queenstown Shotover Jet crashed into rocks on the Kawarau river. Emergency services were called to the scene at about 3:15pm.

On Saturday, 18 July, Searchlight Brewery and Coathanger Productions will host A Night To Remember – a community fundraising event bringing people together to celebrate life.

A bold and visionary plan to expand the lakeside township of Kingston into a self-sufficient southern community, with reduced reliance on Queenstown for jobs, services and travel, has been unveiled this week.

With heavy snow, wet roads and warnings of more overnight freezing causing black ice, Police and are urging school holiday drivers to take extreme caution and obey the rules.

City-raised Gloria McKeich arrived in Queenstown in 1967 – a young mum with a two-year-old and a baby, to discover “one doctor, one hospital, one newspaper outlet and no public transport”.

Rescuers and mountain safety experts are urging climbers to ‘know their descent route’ before taking on big climbs, after two strong local climbers in their 20s had to be rescued late at night from a steep, vertical ice slope, high on Mount Aspiring overnight on Tuesday, 30 June.

Psychedelic world music, that’s how frontman of Carnivorous Plant Society Finn Scholes describes the trio’s sound. Heading to Queenstown next week, they’ll be bringing their signature sounds to Sherwood, on tour with Arts on Tour NZ.

WAI Wānaka, in partnership with the University of Otago - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka and Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University, has launched an ambitious new studentship programme to support emerging researchers working to protect and enhance freshwater health.

Whilst the nature of politics can lead to debate and a contest of ideas, it has been pleasing to see both Labour and the Greens broadly endorsing the National Infrastructure Plan this week.

Two strong local climbers in their mid-20s had to be rescued on Tuesday night (30 June) after becoming lost and abseiling down onto a vertical ice slope high on Mount Aspiring, sparking a long, tricky and technical helicopter rescue.

He’s rubbed shoulders internationally with horse racing greats, shouted the head of the CIA and FBI a few late-night quiets in his upmarket Arthur’s Point restaurant, even harboured undercover hobbits with hairy feet while hosting a private Peter Jackson unveiling.

In total there were 14 one-star restaurants including: Inati in Christchurch, led by chef Simon Levy, Ben Bayly's Ahi, seafood led Ortega in Wellington, The Estate on Auckland's Waiheke Island, Rātā in Queenstown, Logan Brown in Wellington, Jano Bistro also in Wellington, lunch-only spot Tussock Hill in Christchurch, Kika in Wānaka, Auckland's Paris Butter, Mudbrick on Waiheke Island and Sherwood and Amisfield in Queenstown.

Local rescuers are concerned that an increasing number of hunters from overseas or out of town are needing to be rescued after getting caught out in the Wakatipu’s challenging alpine terrain and finding themselves beyond their capabilities.

A much-loved fixture on the lakefront is Queenstown Market. Stalls are full of goodies – hand crafted and made with love – it’s a vibrant celebration of creativity where visual and performing arts come alive for locals and visitors alike.

Future Hospitality Group’s Odd Saint and Little Blackwood have been crowned New Zealand’s Best Café and Best Bar at the 2026 LION Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence.

The deafening dawn chorus from native birds in our forests and backyards. The health of Wai Whakaata - Lake Hayes. The native bat population in Glenorchy.

A Queenstown local charity, Happiness House, recently received a refit of their op shop using diverted construction materials.

Police are working to identify a group of men after a driver was allegedly assaulted when forced to stop his car on Gorge Road at 3.50am on Sunday, 21 June. Constable Amanda Shute says three men had been stopped in the middle of the road causing the vehicle to slow down and stop.