Community

- Tribute to long-time Queenstown Gardens Head Gardener Nic Leefe

Despite an increase in bee disease throughout the country, Queenstown’s honey trade is reporting a bumper year. The industry throughout Aotearoa has seen an increase in American Foulbrood (AFB), a disease that kills honey bee colonies. The bacteria can take many months to kill the bees and in the meantime they may infect other colonies.

Something magical is happening in the garden at Frankton Library from March 4. Six beautiful Lilliput Library boxes decorated by local volunteer artists will pop up to reveal books written in languages from every continent in the world. They will give our richly diverse community access to books in their own language and all readers with the opportunity to connect with other cultures.

Our community often recognises Hato Hone St John as a major health supplier in New Zealand. Providing 90% of emergency and non-emergency ambulance coverage, first aid at public events, first aid training and the St John Youth programme for tamariki aged between six and 18 years.

The recent extreme weather events across large parts of the North Island have left many communities devastated. Our thoughts and hearts go out to those who have suffered loss and are now facing a long and difficult process of recovery and rebuilding. It is important for us to come together and support these communities as they face the challenges ahead and help them rebuild.

Initially launched in 2018, DISHrupt was an idea born out of Sustainable Queenstown’s passion to create Zero Waste Events. Events where peoples’ habits can be broken, smarter decisions can be made, and more importantly spaces where food and beverages can be enjoyed and shared without rubbish bins being full of single use waste.

“Volunteering is great for the soul” says Queenstown’s Simon Hayes. He should know. He does a lot of it.

From the end of this week the Queenstown Bike Festival will take over town for ten days. Each day is jam-packed with biking events for all skills and ages, and events include racing, jump jams, a photography competition, and a variety of unique activities. The location of the events will be scattered around Queenstown, and include Coronet Peak, Skyline and Cardrona.

Summer in Queenstown is epic. Think long days, warm temperatures, BBQs and rivers and lakes to swim in; it’s the perfect recipe for putting a big smile on everyone’s face. Throw in a healthy dose of bike riding, and you’ll soon see how awesome the Queenstown Trail network is and you are likely to discover something new about this incredible place we live in.

The Queenstown Gardens has been a central and much loved part of Queenstown for just over 150 years.

In these times of rising living costs holidays can be out of the question for many families, but if you’re heading to, or live in, the Queenstown-Lakes, Central Otago region they don’t need to break the bank.

Rail royalty has returned to the tracks at Kingston with the re-introduction of a much-loved heritage gem, The Kingston Flyer vintage steam train, to the list of popular local tourist attractions.

Central Otago’s acclaimed wine and cuisine takes centre stage at a brand new four-day celebration in and around the Southern Lakes and Central Otago regions in January.

With demand for sustainability, and customers opting for seasonal and local, the many free market days operating around the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago region are increasingly becoming a destination day out.

Lakes District Museum and its popular interactive intrigue just got a whole lot more interesting with the completion of a massive $3.5 million earthquake strengthening and redevelopment, officially opened on December 9.

Relay For Life - Te Ara Toiora - is a Cancer Society community fundraising event filled with energy and emotion. After the covid interruptions of the past few years the event will be reignited next year on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 March at Wānaka’s Pembroke Park.

A hugely successful Queenstown charity golf tournament, attracting some big names, raised about $35,000 for Whānau āwhina Plunket this month. The sought after, two-day 2022 Cello Invitational Pro-Am – one of the PGA of New Zealand’s premier pro-ams, teed off at Millbrook Resort, progressing to the Jack’s Point course on the second day. It provided the perfect opportunity for pro golfers to play the NZPGA circuit.

An apple grows on a tree in Cromwell with sunshine, water, good soil and some love. It gets picked and driven to a shop to be sold. A few days later a new shiney batch of apples arrives and our apple hasn’t been bought yet, so it’s taken off the shelf and put in the bin. That evening a family in Fernhill sits down to eat another dinner of 2-minute noodles, unable to afford fresh nutritious food. All while a perfectly good apple sits in the bin just down the road, ready to be buried in a landfill site.