James Beech

Anyone with medical appointments in Invercargill will be able to use a new St John Wakatipu health shuttle from late November after the $80,000 vehicle was dedicated this week.

A family woman with experience of sport and recreation in Auckland will take control of all leisure activities and facilities for the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

More than $35,000 has been given and as much again offered in awards and scholarships to the finest young minds of Wakatipu High School.

The directors of an acclaimed documentary of cross-cultural "compassion in action" will host a question and answer session with the audience after a screening in Arrowtown next Thursday.

Grocer with Moko Erased (2012), a cheeky but thought-provoking riposte to Auckland artist Dick Frizzell's controversial Grocer with Moko (1992), is one of two limited-edition screenprint series and six originals by Weston Frizzell in a new exhibition in Toi o Tahuna and Kapa Design Gallery tonight.

The buzz is already building at the Gibbston winery which will host the Classic Hits Winery Tour for the first time in the event's seven-year history next year.

A lifelong gold panner from Balclutha will take on the Australians next year after winning the 2012 New Zealand Gold Panning Championships in Arrowtown yesterday.

The first official function of the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold in Arrowtown started where it all began.

TSS Earnslaw made a graceful return to Glenorchy yesterday for a celebration which dovetailed the Lady of the Lake's centenary with the 150th anniversary of settlement at the head of Lake Wakatipu.

A new appreciation for the feat of DIY New Zealand civil engineering and the determination of a tiny community will be gained by watching the new documentary The Glenorchy Road: A Dream Come True, which was launched to applause in the township yesterday.

Kingsview School pupils (from left) Lou-Al Milner (10), Sebastian Schneider (10), Taine Hattaway (10), Damien Milner (8), Mackenzie Shewan (10), Nicoli D'Alves (13), Max Nicol (10), Nicoly Matiussi (12) and Ben Nicol (12) demonstrate the results of 18 months of French language lessons by staging a cafe scene to an audience of parents yesterday.

A dazzling line-up of world-class New Zealand jazz supremos and the cream of jazz talent from around the globe are on a mission to bring live music to the streets of the Wakatipu from today.

One of New Zealand's best-loved artists is expected to attend a preview of his latest exhibition tonight, then talk about his influential career tomorrow, at Milford Galleries Queenstown.

Today 7pm: Nadene Milne Gallery, Arrowtown, screens the British documentary Damien Hirst, Thoughts, Work, Life next door in Dorothy Brown's Cinema before the launch of The Beauty and Brutality of Fact: Damien Hirst and Max Gimblett at 8pm.

The High Court dismissal of an appeal by the owner of a Wanaka gymnasium which was turned into accommodation could be the final chapter in a 12-year legal battle with the Queenstown Lakes District Council.