NOTICE attached to a local bar: “The Buffalo Club is closed this evening for staff training on the effects of excessive drinking.” 

THE new boss of Taupo Motorsport Park tells Inside Tourism he wants his town to start challenging Queenstown: “We’ve got a volcano and a racetrack and they have neither.” 

GIBBSTON Valley wine pioneer Alan Brady recalled at the launch of his book ‘Pinot Central: A Winemaker’s Story’ how it was a long time in the making once publisher Penguin Group NZ paid him an advance and set a deadline: “Well, I spent the advance and missed the deadline.” 

THREE locals, school teacher Mark Douglas and businessmen Graeme Wilson and Mike Holloway have celebrated their 60th birthdays. Wilson invited running mates to join him for a jog last Saturday. Douglas, who brought up his 30th anniversary at Queenstown Primary this year, continues in his quest to run up Ben Lomond every day of the calendar year – he’s about a year off completing his mission.

A GROUP of hardy middle-age and even veteran locals are just back from a strenuous but scenic three-and-a-half week cycle tour in France. They include Geoff Hunt, Pascale Lorre, Mark Gabites, Lindsay Williams, Jef Desbecker, Robina Bodle, Tom Pryde and Jeff Turner.