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The Skyline Charity Golf Classic raffle opened on 1 October 2026, giving the wider community a chance to win one of 15 prizes worth more than $60,000 while helping Wakatipu High School students attend Branches Camp.

Cooler temperatures and light rain overnight have helped suppress the vegetation fire at Walter Peak, providing firefighters with more favourable conditions as operations continue today. An early morning flight found that the fire has significantly reduced, with no visible flames observed around the fire perimeter.

A local youth was arrested over the weekend after a group of youths were allegedly identified on a private yacht moored in Queenstown Bay. The individual was charged with unlawfully takes motor vehicle, unlawful gets into a motor vehicle, unlawfully gets onto a ship and escapes custody.

Firefighting resumed at Walter Peak at 7am today, with air and ground operations underway. Four helicopters equipped with monsoon buckets are cooling hotspots and dampening the fire perimeter, with a fifth helicopter used as an aerial platform to direct the air attack.

Police have paused the search for missing 47-year-old Erika Rodrigues Coelho.This difficult decision follows extensive searches of the area since Erika was reported missing on 20 September.

NHR has rolled into town, bringing a range of moving trucks and cargo vans suitable for individuals and business hire. Their fleet includes diesel vehicles and our district’s first electric moving truck – all complete with handy tail lifts.

Firefighting operations are continuing at Walter Peak, where a large vegetation fire is burning on steep slopes above the shores of Lake Wakatipu.

Fire and Emergency is responding to a large vegetation fire at Walter Peak station on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.

Police are calling for help from the public to identify a man in his 30s of Asian complexion who may be of assistance in the extensive search for a 47-year-old Brazilian woman who’s been missing in the Skippers Saddle-Mount Dewar area for almost two weeks.

Police seek the public's help to identify a man seen on the summit track in the Mount Dewar area about 12.30pm on Friday afternoon 18 September.

A Queenstown firefighting legend has recently returned from the US where he had his work cut out for him helping manage and coordinate four different helicopter bases – two in Oregon and two in Washington, in the massive battles there against wildfires.

Police and LandSAR volunteers continue to scour the rugged hill country around Skippers Saddle and Mount Dewar for the second day today (24 September) in the hope of finding clues as to the whereabouts of a missing woman last seen at Skippers Saddle, near Coronet Peak, on Friday, 18 September.

Some volunteer firefighters are concerned that they can’t get through Queenstown’s notorious traffic congestion to respond to callouts, and while the local FENZ assistant district commander says it hasn’t affected response times yet, it potentially could.

While there was widespread alarm both on the ground and on board as significant flames leapt from the engine of a Qantas jet upon take-off from Queenstown last Saturday (5 September), Qantas assures its pilots had everything under control.

Ten people were taken to Lakes District Hospital by St John Ambulance crews, at least one with moderate injuries, after what is believed to have been a head-on collision between two vehicles near the summit on Crown Range Road at around 3.30pm yesterday (9 September).

At 76, Queenstown’s Queen of Waka Ama Francie Piacun has brought home a prestigious bronze crown, part of the 75-Plus age-group Kiwi team to win bronze at the World Waka Ama Sprints Championships in Singapore late last month.

Police are urging caution on the Frankton to Kingston highway through the Devil’s Staircase with latest NZTA statistics still showing concerning crash numbers along that route before what’s predicted to be a bumper tourist season even gets underway.

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.