James Beech

Original music artists are invited to audition on February 23 for the 2014 Songstars competition in the Queenstown Memorial Centre from March 27-29.

Queenstown tourism operators are braced to welcome the next major influx of visitors for Chinese New Year, between the earlier dates of January 31 to February 9, but opinion is split on whether the resort needs a Chinese festival.

The number of guest nights, the average length of stay and overall occupancy all shot up in Queenstown in November, which bodes well for a bumper summer season.

German opera singer Dorothee Jansen and accompaniment return to perform their new repertoire twice in St Peter's Church, Queenstown, this week.

Actor Sam Neill says his winery's fourth vineyard acquisition demonstrates ''faith and confidence'' in Central Otago and its pinot noir for the global market.

Aggressive control of large seeding trees across the lower front faces of Mt Dewar Station is needed to stop their spread and protect the golden tussock faces of Mt Dewar, Skippers Saddle and Coronet Peak, the Department of Conservation (Doc) says.

Barry Ellis fondly remembers going to a concert in south London in the early 1980s and seeing Madness, the Specials and the Pretenders all on the same bill on the same night for just 5 pounds at the door.

Remarkable Theatre players (from left) Andrew Edgar, Greg Dorn, Nicky Busst, Victoria Keating and Fiona Bracken show their true colours in the coming promenade theatre performance A Jolly Good Stroll in the Gardens: An Afternoon of Classic British Comedy.

The Rt Rev Dr David Coles retires in February after almost six years as vicar of the Wakatipu Anglican Parish and more than 40 years in New Zealand ministry.

Artist Jasmine Middlebrook, of New Plymouth, returns to Artbay Gallery to join Queenstown artists Rachael Errington and Amber Stephens on Friday.

The electronic waste recycling initiative at the Queenstown Refuse Station has not resulted in an increase in deposits of unwanted consumer gadgets after new purchases and upgrades at Christmas time.

Hosting hundreds of New Zealand and international visitors of all ages and with varying expectations every day takes supreme organisation and the people skills of a diplomat, as three new recruits at Queenstown's Walter Peak High Country Farm tell James Beech.

Chinese New Year and how it relates to Otago's history will be brought home to Wakatipu children when they celebrate the start of the Year of the Horse at the Lakes District Museum.

Today is the earliest the beach near the latest sewage overflow in Queenstown could open after water samples were sent away by the Queenstown Lakes District Council for quality testing.

Increased Government incentives for international films to be produced in New Zealand provide opportunities for more big projects in the lower South Island.

A Queenstown luxury real estate agent says research claiming prices for luxury Queenstown ski homes rose by almost 18.6% in the past 12 months is ''a little optimistic''.

Wakatipu children were wide-eyed when two of the stars of The Hobbit trilogy attended an exclusive screening of The Desolation of Smaug in Queenstown