Content

Over the past seven months our team, our partners, and hundreds of Queenstown families poured themselves into the Atlas High School application. The goal was to prove that a community-owned, not-for-profit, fees-free model could give our young people real choice in a one-school town that is loudly asking for it. I’m proud of the work we did, and even prouder of the community that stood up for it.

A Queenstown landlord who crammed tenants into partitioned rooms, garages, caravans and a bus has been ordered to pay $81,050 on behalf of 117 tenants.

This September we are celebrating Welcoming Week. In its second year in our district, Welcoming Week offers us a powerful reminder: communities thrive when everyone feels they belong.

A blueprint for delivering this district’s future Three Waters services is now awaiting consideration and acceptance from central government.

New Zealand's engineered post-Covid recession has pushed our wage growth to near the bottom of the world in recent years.

A video showing a group of backcountry skiers being caught in an avalanche in the Treble Cone backcountry yesterday has prompted a serious warning for backcountry enthusiasts.

Queenstown-based tourism giant RealNZ has been listed as a finalist in the 2025 New Zealand Tourism Awards.

The Whakatipu Reforestation Trust has been operating since 2013, working to grow and plant native trees and shrubs throughout the Whakatipu Basin. With 129,000 plants in the ground to date, the impact is starting to add up.

Plans for Atlas High School have been rejected by the government’s Charter School Authorisation Board.

Cardrona Valley Road has re-opened following a serious crash yesterday afternoon. One person was critically injured, two people sustained serious injuries and a further two sustained moderate injuries.

Passengers took nearly two million trips on Queenstown buses over 12 months.

Legendary Queenstown award-winning architect Michael Wyatt doesn’t just love drawing. He’s pretty keen on cars, now the proud owner of seven classy classics, including a 1968 4.9-litre V8 Maserati - his “babies”.

New Zealand ski racing superstar Alice Robinson has been crowned the 2025 New Zealand Giant Slalom National Champion on home snow at Coronet Peak for the third year in a row.

Recent calls from sections of the tourism industry to cut the international visitor levy (IVL) risk undermining one of the few bright spots in current government policies shaping the sector.

When MC Katie Bradford asked candidates at the Chambers’ Mayoral debate last week “Would you consider a moratorium on future development until our infrastructure issues are sorted?” there was an audible ripple of support just for the fact that she asked the question.

Love Queenstown and Love Wānaka Community Funds are distributing a combined $85k to a dozen local organisations working to protect and regenerate the natural environment.

Remarkable Theatre’s latest production is Kiwi playwright Roger Hall’s Take a Chance on Me. The funny, warm and relatable comedy will take over Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall next week and follows a lively group of characters as they navigate the ups and downs of love, loneliness and starting over later in life.

A new Wānaka playground and reserve remains closed off to public access despite having been completed in June.

Wealthy foreigners on a so-called "golden visa" will be allowed to buy a luxury home in New Zealand once more, with the coalition government confirming a new exemption to the foreign buyers' ban.

Plans for a Queenstown funicular, new ski field, convention centre and housing development will not be Fast-Tracked.