My Life Story

While other 50-something mums endure night sweats at home after a long day at work, longtime Queenstown dance teacher Theresa Swain is out working up a night sweat of a different kind, moonlighting as a drag queen and nightclub DJ.

Some people make more of an impact backstage than centre stage and Queenstown sound and lighting legend Mike Brettell is one of those people.

A community fundraising powerhouse and dedicated volunteer, no task is beneath local nurse Tracy McLean from decisions in the charitable trust boardroom to cleaning loos.

Rachel Rose is just one of those people who’s always putting her hand up to help. She may have studied politics in her homeland of England, and worked in IT, but she soon discovered it was people she loved most, and helping them.

A Queenstown architect for almost 50 years and Queenstown Lakes District councillor for nine, Gillian Macleod also juggled motherhood - four kids, and multiple voluntary roles, amid the many meetings.

He may not have taken out the official ‘Queenstown Top Bloke’ crown, but Junior Apolosi - one of the iconic contest’s most celebrated contestants, wins the unofficial title hands down, according to his mates.

It only took 11 years for retired engineer Mark Hosie to make his mark in his beloved Arrowtown, celebrated recently for his role in motivating the local troops to victory in the battle to retain the quaint, historic town’s gold-rush era charm.

He was one of Queenstown most loved hospitality characters, everybody’s mate, during his 30 years owning and running the then Chico’s Restaurant and Nightclub – a popular, late night Queenstown venue.

He was a pretty skinny cat himself, but Colin Cloudesley was best known in Queenstown for his Fatz Cat Restaurant (Ristorante Italiano), knowledge of Italian food, and Italian impersonations, despite having not an ounce of Italian blood in his veins.

He’s been a trader from a young age, not the big-time stock exchange kind, more of the down-home big-hearted Darryl kind - a man with a huge heart for his community, always keen to share his great love of the outdoors.

She’s been a natural at hospitality since she was thrown in the deep end of the deep fryer in Queenstown in 2015 launching a new fish and chip venture with husband Erik Arndt, former King Country farmers always keen to take on something new.

She’s owned and operated seven restaurants and bars in a career spanning more than 30 years – a multi-tasking maestro, managing to maintain a calm, welcoming smile while juggling multiple hospo roles.

He’s forged himself a highly successful career in snow, his expertise in demand worldwide, all due to pursuing a passion for skiing 50 years ago, which became a passion for snow safety.

She helped deliver hundreds of babies in almost 15 years as a midwife, starting at the old Sydney Street Queenstown Maternity Home, (later Bungi Backpackers), during the boom times of the 1980s and 90s, up to eight mums often packed into the five-bed home.

He’s saved many lives in his time and risked his own a few, just for the thrill of a good ride, but these days one of Queenstown’s original 1970s rafting guides and tandem paragliding pilots, John ‘J.R.’ McCormack, is an artist, kicking back eating whitebait on the West Coast.

He may have been born in South Africa to a Kiwi mum and a Bermudian dad, but retired Queenstown lawyer Simon Stamers-Smith’s family heritage is steeped richly in Queenstown.

Jane Scheib epitomises ‘Kiwi can do’ – the girl power kind. You have to when you want to fund life in the Greek Islands for four months of the year.

When Marty Newell arrived in Queenstown in late 1994, his weekly rent was just $75 a week and his Pizza Hut wages not much better.

He’s rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, had a yarn with the Queen and Nelson Mandela, and even donned wizard regalia for an Air NZ Middle Earth TV campaign.

She’s managed and partied with tour loads of young Contiki travellers in Europe and Queenstown, helped save the Earnslaw in a record flood and officiated at over 1,000 local weddings, declining an unusual photo request at one.