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Police are extremely concerned to have netted two alleged drink drivers recording over 1000mcg, one over 1300mcg, when breath tested around Queenstown this past week, another two allegedly blowing over 800mcg in Central Otago.

Police have arrested two people and are appealing for witnesses following a serious assault in Queenstown around 1.10am near the Crew Room Bar entrance on Ballarat Street on last Tuesday, 25 August.

If anyone knows the dangers of the various conditions on Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes roads its newly appointed Otago Lakes Road Policing Manager Senior Sergeant Clint Wright.

Police have been out in force in the past few weeks operating 20 checkpoints across Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago and breath-testing 3,278 drivers.

There’s been a bit of shaking going on around the Southern Lakes of late and while it all seems to have settled down for now many are asking, ‘Are we prepared for the big one?’

Police say they have arrested “multiple youths” in relation to a serious recent spate of vehicle break ins and thefts around Frankton, Lake Hayes-Shotover Country and Kelvin Heights. Constable Amanda Shute says they have all been referred to be dealt with by the Police Youth Aid process.

While there’s less of a concern about whether recreational drug users are getting what they paid for around the Queenstown Lakes just now, Know Your Stuff general manager Casey Spearin says they’re more concerned about people mixing their drugs with alcohol.

Queenstown Olympian and World Cup alpine skiing star Alice Robinson will share her season’s highlights, which saw her finishing second in World Cup Super G and regularly on the podium, at a Queenstown Alpine Ski Team (QAST) celebration night and fundraiser on September 5 at Cargo Brew Hall at Arthur’s Point.

In what seems to be an ongoing problem Queenstown Police are again chasing the offenders of yet another spate of 11 vehicle break-ins and thefts across four Queenstown suburbs and they’re calling for the public’s help.

Experienced local rescuers are warning young climbers against “getting sucked in by summit fever’ amid calls from Police for extreme caution in the backcountry after two more major alpine rescues near Wānaka in a week.

Kiwi Park is inviting the community to come together on Sunday 16 August for A Day for Dylan, with all proceeds taken at Kiwi Park on the day being donated to support Queenstown local four-year-old Dylan and his family as they navigate his battle with relapsed Stage 4 neuroblastoma.

A climber who fell between 200m and 300m off a ledge down a very steep, rocky face while descending Mount Aspiring in darkness on Tuesday evening is “very, very lucky to be alive”, rescuers say.

A beloved community centre which has served as a second home to tens of thousands of Queenstowners is on the hunt for a new home of its own. Happiness House - which offers free food, low-cost clothes, advocacy and spaces for social connection - has learned it must vacate its premises of two decades near Queenstown Gardens by 2028.

A member's bill that would extend ACC cover to volunteer firefighters has been drawn from the biscuit tin.

Kiwi Park Queenstown has officially revealed the name of its rare brown kiwi chick, Tuku Iho, during a traditional Māori naming and blessing ceremony held with local iwi.

Police and emergency services are urging drivers of the risks of driving on slippery alpine roads, with black ice and frosty roads plaguing the district in recent weeks and more than a dozen crashes, one causing the death of a visiting Hong Kong driver.

Police are investigating the cause of a fatal accident between a bus and a car on the Crown Range Road about 10.15am yesterday (15 July) with the road closed for the rest of the day and into the evening.

Kiwi actor Sir Sam Neill has died, his family has announced. "It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life."

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.