The Queenstown Lakes District Council and Real Journeys joined in the April Fool's Day fun yesterday.
The council was quick off the mark, issuing a media release just before 8am announcing it had rebranded to the "Wanaka Lakes District Council''.
"WLDC'' Mayor Vanessa van Uden said in the release the name change was part of a strategy to take the heat out of the Queenstown housing market by "upping the profile of other communities''.
"People were always complaining that the district is not just about Queenstown and the council has listened to their views and decided to act on them.
"If it's successful, then we may look at changing our name on a regular basis to spotlight other parts of the district.
"Personally, I think Paradise District Council has a nice ring to it.''
The media release said the rebranding decision was made at last Thursday's full council meeting in Wanaka during the public excluded session, but lapsed at noon yesterday.
Deputy mayor and Wanaka-based councillor Lyal Cocks told the ODT yesterday afternoon he thought the Wanaka District Council had "a nice ring to it''.
Real Journeys got in on the act, uploading a photo to social media showing TSS Earnslaw steaming across Lake Wakatipu, accompanied by dolphins.
It was captioned: ‘‘What a fantastic sight out on the TSS Earnslaw. It's not often we see so many dolphins out on Lake Wakatipu at this time of year!''.
