Australia

By TRACEY ROXBURGH WHILE RuPaul’s Drag Race gets much of the credit, born-and-bred Queenstowner George Dagg was possibly always destined for his new career path. Dagg works at Life’s a Grind Espresso by day and, more and more often, by night...

By GUY WILLIAMS Don't wait and hope. That was the message from Tourism NZ boss Stephen England-Hall to Industry operators at a roadshow event in Queenstown on Wednesday. England-Hall told a packed room at the Heritage Hotel ‘‘there’s no bag of money...

By MATTHEW MCKEW The title of their 1983 album was Where Do They Go. Now we know the answer. Kiwi new-wave rockers Mi-Sex are set for their first home gig since the Covid-19 outbreak, with their Aussie-based members crossing the Tasman to perform at...

By PHILIP CHANDLER A Queenstown tourism company that missed out on Covid relief funding has produced A Covid Fairy Tale YouTube video to try to turn a negative into a positive. Shotover Canyon Swing had applied for $300,000 in strategic tourism assets protection...

By PHILIP CHANDLER ONE of Australia’s foremost gymnasts who found fame 15 years ago now lives in Queenstown. Monette Russo — who now sports the married name of Davis — was the first Australian gymnast to win an individual world championship...

By TRACEY ROXBURGH Two hundred and five names were read out in Queenstown’s St Peter’s Church on Tuesday morning, as members of the resort’s thin blue line, and other members of the community, gathered for the annual Police Remembrance Day. The...

By GUY WILLIAMS Its title couldn’t be more apt. The Touring Company’s production of The Shows Must Go On, which hits the Queenstown Memorial Centre stage this coming Monday, was born of a determination to revive musical theatre after March’s lockdown...

By PHILIP CHANDLER Queenstown mayor Jim Boult says he’s asking the government to reinstate the wage subsidy for tourism and hospitality ‘‘till we see reasonable levels of business return’’. The wage subsidy, which wound up early this month, played a critical...

By PHILIP CHANDLER A top freeride mountain biker’s peddling Queenstown as the world’s best destination for his sport. Australian-raised 22-year-old Remy Morton — currently starring in Destination Queenstown’s ‘Flatten The Hill’ campaign — moved to the resort six summers ago and,...

By MATTHEW MCKEW West Indies cricketing legend Chris Gayle could be among international sporting superstars based in Queenstown if there’s progress on talks to make the resort a ‘‘bespoke’’ isolation base. City Hall, the government, Southern District Health Board, NZ Cricket...

One of Australasia’s leading portrait artists, Jane Pestell-Litten, resides in Queenstown. In a sitting with PHILIP CHANDLER, she gives the good oil on what got her into art about 12 years ago, and on her embarrassment at leaving a nude...

By MATTHEW MCKEW Unexpected repayments have been gratefully received by Wakatipu businesses caught out by struggling tourism wholesaler Website Travel. But others remain unpaid and it means a burning hole in their pocket with the government wage subsidy expiring from this...