Queenstown news and more...

SLIDESHOW     Photos of the American Express Party in the Park & Fireworks at Earnslaw Park and the American Express After Party at Kawarau Falls Station Pavilion.   VIDEO COVERAGE   Our visitor from Gore is back in Queenstown to enjoy all that the Winter Festival has to offer.  A Diary of Winter Fest antics by our visitor from Gore Scot Mackay  Day One: For those about to rock, we salute »»

The first ever Festival themed flight landed on Friday June 27 at 2pm with a plane packed to capacity with passengers who had winged their way direct from Sydney to Queenstown on Air New Zealand’s 'Festival in The Sky’. Onboard entertainment from Goodnight Nurse and in flight MC’S Justine Smith and Simon McKinney kept the atmosphere well and truly electric. Enjoying all the Festival flight madness were competition »»

STREET PARADE SLIDESHOW  The Festival Parade in downtown Queenstown today at noon. For Winter Festival videos click here JAZZ NIGHT SLIDESHOW The American Express Jazz Night at Skyline Gondola & Restaurant featuring Hollie Smith, Tahuna Breaks and Katchafire. For Winter Festival videos click here Winter Fest diary of a Southern Man : Scot Mackay from Gore Day Two: Morning has come and gone and so too has my »»

Despite the drizzly weather conditions the Festival Parade made its way through Queenstown, its appeal always popular with the large crowds here for Winter Festival. Local business and community put in a spectacular effort to create their floats making the decision of the overall winners very difficult for the judges. From a bouncing stilt walker through to a four-legged entry (which happened this year to be a cow) and everything in »»

The American Express Queenstown Winter Festival 2008 once again delivers an amazing line-up of entertainment. On Saturday night music lovers were hard pressed to choose between the Jazz Night at the Skyline Gondola or the live show at the Kawarau Falls Station Pavilion where the Queenstown Airport presented Jennifer Ward-Lealand ‘Falling in Love Again’ the Marlene Dietrich tribute. Those lucky enough to have purchased tickets »»

BIRDMAN AND PARTY ON THE PEAK SLIDESHOW Photographs taken at SkiDealsNZ.com Day on the Bay Birdman competition and Coronet Peak Opening Party. For Winter Festival videos click here Diary from Scot Mackay: It’s cold, I’m tired, I’m wet, and boy am I stoked. Today was amazing; we started the morning off by covering the bird man competition, chatting to some very cold and shriveled lads, then moved on up the »»

The SkiDealsNZ.com Day on the Bay (Sunday June 29) was an overwhelming success with a larger than usual crowd lining the edge of the lake to catch all the crazy fun. A bunch of braver than brave contestants entered into the MORE FM Birdman. Complete with contraptions and costumes they threw themselves with gusto into the freezing waters of Lake Wakatipu as the crowd cheered and laughed and whistled their encouragement. Shotover Jet »»

TEDDY BEARS PICNIC SLIDESHOW For Winter Festival videos click here Scot of Gore speaks out Day 4: When you think of enduring exercise often the stitch comes to mind. When you think of comedy often laughter comes to mind, and when you think of the two together without enduring exercise, you definitely have had a good time. The day started off like many others, I was cold, it was frosted, my water pipes had frozen, and I was wiping wet »»

It has been an absolute gourmet food lover’s delight over the past couple of days at the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival, with two sold out events at two distinctly beautiful venues. On Sunday evening guests were treated to an amazing four course meal in the stunning surroundings of the Kawarau Falls Station Pavilion. Prepared by reknowned chefs Mark Sycamore of Blanket Bay, Martin James of Wai Restaurant, Stephen Mils of »»

MARDI GRAS SLIDESHOW   The Racket Mardi Gras at Earnslaw Park and Downtown Queenstown. For Winter Festival videos click here     A Diary of Winter Fest antics by our visitor from Gore Scot Mackay. »»

The conditions were absolutely pristine at Coronet Peak today (Tuesday July 1) for the American Express Celebrity Ski Race. A 30 strong field racing in teams of 3 took to the track set up by the Coronet Peak Ski Department with celebrities pitching themselves against local and visiting invitees. With the winning team taking out 5 of their 6 runs. Spot prizes were donated by local ski shop Browns and the major prizes supplied by »»

DOWNTOWN DAY SLIDESHOW Q92 The Breeze Downtown Day at Earnslaw Park. Hotel bosses compete, top blokes throw pizzas and corporate big-shots dress in drag and race each other in heels. For Winter Festival videos click here  Our beloved visitor from Gore's diary entry day 6: Queenstown is not generally known for its cross-dressing business men, these are usually scenes more common in Christchurch or Auckland, but today it was the »»

DOGGIE SLIDESHOW  The Speight's Dog Derby at Coronet Peak and the Dog Barking Competition at the Village Green. For Winter Festival videos click here RECORD NUMBERS IN DOG DERBY There were a record number of dogs and their owners this year at the Speight’s Dog Derby held at Coronet Peak as part of the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival on Thursday July 3. Much to the amusement of skiers and boarders on the »»

BALL SLIDESHOW  Lindauer Ball Puttin' on the Ritz at Millennium Hotel. For Winter Festival videos click here Scot from Gore gets wishes he could remember day 8: It was a night to remember, and I wish I could. However the memories which do linger and have survived the onslaught of Winter Festivals' sterling social scene, remind me that the Lindauer Ball was definitely up there with my favourite events. Like all others »»

BIG NIGHT OUT SLIDESHOW Opshop and Evermore at the Big Night Out at the Queenstown Events Centre. For Winter Festival videos click here Scot from Gore - day 9 When you awake on a Saturday morning in a random person's hotel room with another big night ahead of you, you know you’re having fun. With the second to last night approaching and only one more event scheduled in for the remainder of the festival, I »»

Scot from Gore - final day The finale of Winter Festival is finally here and so too is much needed rest. Therefore to benefit anyone who has read and viewed all the coverage over the past ten days, I am going to keep it short and sweet. So here goes. Snowboarding, Ddub, astounding. I hope you've all enjoyed life as much as I have over the last week and a bit, but for now my brain is fried and all I want to do is just chill out. Until »»

The American Express Queenstown Winter Festival 2008 wrapped up with a huge day at Coronet Peak with organisers declaring the 10 Coolest Days of Winter a resounding success. A big dump of snow the day before (Saturday July 5) made for perfect skiing and boarding conditions and thousands flocked to the slopes providing an incredible atmosphere for Festival Finale. The grabaseat Mountain Mayhem kicked off the proceedings with the Dash for »»