James Beech

A wayward sooty shearwater was given a lift home aloft man-made wings from Queenstown to Milford Sound so it can have another attempt at its epic migration to North America.

It may take five intensive weeks of work, up to 40 staff and about $500,000, but it is very important the "Lady of the Lake" looks her best for her public in her centenary year.

TSS Earnslaw, Queenstown's popular tourist transport, was winched out of Lake Wakatipu yesterday to begin five weeks of inspections and maintenance before its centennial celebrations in October.

Austrian nuns from New Zealand, an Austrian naval captain by way of Wales, a pair of lovestruck Austrian teenagers from Scotland, an Austrian baroness and German admiral from England and German soldiers straight from the Herr Flick School of Accents feature in The Sound of Music in Queenstown - and it is all the better for it.

A private Queenstown art collector has released to market a set of six paintings hailed by the director of Arrowtown Gallery as belonging in the "top echelon of New Zealand art".

The search for a replacement chief executive for the Queenstown Lakes District Council will start next week after Debra Lawson announced yesterday she will not seek reappointment for a second term in the $250,000-a-year job.

A "pavlova Western" starring the epic vistas of Central Otago, with cameos by Queenstown Lakes and Southland districts, will open in Queenstown next week.

Steamer Wharf proved itself as a Queenstown attraction for the lucrative conference and incentive market, after the precinct hosted more than 900 guests for the farewell party of Trenz 2012 last week.

A crime has been committed in Queenstown, but luckily Youth Booth members are on the case.

Queenstown Lakes District Council chief executive Debra Lawson has advised the council she will not seek re-appointment for a second term.

Users of Glendhu Bay Lakeside Holiday Park will have to pay at least $16 a day per person, or a "daily holding fee" of $8 for unoccupied caravans left on site for no longer than 30 days, which brings the park in line with other parks in the Queenstown Lakes district.

New Zealand Police have declined Official Information Act requests for details on the number of police officers assigned and the cost of security surrounding the visit of a senior Chinese political leader to Queenstown and Arrowtown last month.

Marketing and promoting Queenstown to New Zealand and the world will be "business as usual" based on the freshly minted business strategy, new Destination Queenstown chief executive Graham Budd says.

If cast members of The Sound of Music appear a little out of breath as they tread the stage, chances are they have just run around the outside of the Queenstown Memorial Hall in costume, in winter and against the clock to hit their mark.

Relatives of shipwright Jimmy Alcorn, who worked as a foreman builder in the construction of TSS Earnslaw, say they will be on board with other descendants from around New Zealand when the "Lady of the Lake" sails from Kingston to Queenstown later this year.

Bex Murray will, to paraphrase her debut single, take a piece of Queenstown with her wherever her pop music career takes her on the other side of the world.

Graham Budd, the incumbent marketing general manager of the regional tourism organisation was appointed to the top job and began his first day yesterday, Destination Queenstown chairman Mark Quickfall has announced.