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“Be brave. Be bold.” That’s the message from the Mayor of Queenstown Lakes’ sister city, Aspen, in the wake of Queenstown’s critical staff housing crisis.

Property Manager Beth Chisholm has been working in real estate for more than 18 years and with Ray White Queenstown for 13 of those. She has a strong knowledge of the local rental market and has seen many changes over time.

Housing affordability and accommodation availability are complex issues in the Queenstown-Lakes District. They can significantly impact the local economy, the success of businesses like yours and the health and well-being of communities in the region.

The first three months of 2023 left many Queenstown Lakes business owners and managers feeling downbeat about the road ahead.

Businesses need to navigate a minefield of tax, tenancy and employment law to offer workforce accommodation to their staff.

She launched into life from a small town Southland upbringing to a love story and life trajectory that before long would see her delight in being immersed into both Maori and Japanese culture. Maree Aoake took it all in her stride.

Queenstown and Wanaka’s summer mountain biking seasons are coming to a close. Cardrona and Coronet closed at the start of this month and Skyline’s season officially ended this past weekend. The trails have been abuzz with bike enthusiasts in the first season with borders open since Covid-19.

A selection of 18 inspiring short films and documentaries will be featured at the first Wao Film Festival in Wanaka next month. A film inspired Wao co-founders Arna Craig and Monique Kelly to create the sustainability-focused non-profit in 2018 and Arna told the Wanaka App the transformative power of film inspired them to create the new festival.

Queenstown Trails has launched a new look fundraising campaign inviting locals – and visitors – to become official Trail Lovers. The campaign that kicked off earlier in the moth replaces the annual Friends of the Trust appeal. The idea with the new campaign is to connect with, and garner support from, all trail users.

Grandchildren can be bad for your health, as I just discovered - don’t mention it to any of the safety morons of our country or they might ban contact with grandchildren or insist on us wearing hard hats and steelcapped boots and hiring orange vested security people to keep us SAFE ( I do hate that word these days). I did a bit of poor handling with our delicious two year old, and ended up having to go to the acupuncturist to get prickled back into a painless...

Queenstown Memorial Centre will host the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival next week. The programme features a selection of the most inspiring action, environmental, and adventure films from the original festival, which is held in Banff, Canada, each year.

There’s been a large spike in search and rescue call-outs in the southern region since January, with a significant number thought to have been in the Queenstown Southern Lakes area.

In the lead-up to a busy ski season of partying Queenstown Police are warning young women especially to have a plan and be vigilant when alcohol is involved, with a number of sexual assault-related charges laid in recent times.

The imaging telescope on the super pressure balloon launched from Wānaka earlier this month has captured its first incredible images of space.

In December a wily new art organisation was launched titled Curious. Modest in size but ambitious in scope, Curious set out to bring intriguing people and events with a contemporary art focus to the Queenstown-Lakes region. They’re about to have their second free event and are welcoming Associate Professor Susan Ballard from Victoria University of Wellington to Queenstown on Saturday 22 April.

The Wānaka A&P Show has donated $30,000 towards ongoing support for Cyclone Gabrielle-affected farmers and rural communities.

Police arrested three men yesterday after a major operation targeting a Central Otago-based drug syndicate.

Miranda Spary is a tired, old, has been columnist that we feel sorry for. She used to write a weekly book column in the old Queenstown Times which was read more for the local gossip in it than the book part. She is quite lazy and very grateful if readers send in ideas about what’s been happening locally on miranda@queenstown.co.nz

Organisers of the 8th Te Anau Tartan Festival held over Easter weekend are recovering and celebrating after their biggest and best event ever.

Let’s talk about food waste. Did you know that around one-third of all the food produced in the world is wasted?