Hori Mains (13) loves the new state-of-the-art skate park, which was opened only two months ago.
When he was skating at the park recently, he was annoyed by a group of tourists who stopped at the park, ate their lunch and left the litter lying around when it was time for them to get back on their bus.
"There were heaps of them and they weren't even skating," Hori told the Otago Daily Times.
Outraged that they could trash "his" park, Hori skated over to the departing bus and waved his arms to stop it from leaving.
"I just said: 'All those guys have to pick up their rubbish'."
Though the bus driver was disgruntled at having been stopped and the teenaged tourists insisted it wasn't their rubbish, a hat left beside some of the rubbish added to the weight of evidence.
"It was a mean hat . . . I grabbed it and said: 'Hey, you've forgotten something'."
A family friend saw what was happening and stopped to give Hori support.
"I stepped in and confirmed that Hori was completely right," Debourah Fenton said.
"Good on him for having the courage to make a stand about this."
Eventually a group of the visiting teenagers got off the bus and cleaned up their rubbish.
At 13 Hori has faced much bigger challenges than an oncoming bus.
Three years ago he had major surgery to fix a brain aneurism.
His mother, Kiri Mains, said he had been lucky it was found before it haemorrhaged.
"But it was a tough time," she said.
Now Hori loves his skating, which he says is an outlet for his frustrations and keeps him "off the streets".
The skate park has also become a focal point for youngsters and Hori enjoys helping younger kids improve their skills, keeping a sharp look-out for them to make sure they are not overextending themselves.
"I like to encourage people and say you can land it - and then they do," the young skater said.
His civic actions earned him praise from QLDC, which together with Queenstown's skating community had built the park.
"As long as he didn't put himself in danger . . . we commend that kind of community spirit," QLDC communications manager Meaghan Miller said.
"It shows the skate park has instilled a real pride in the younger members of our community."
The council relied on the community to be its "eyes and ears" and to "take pride in the streets, reserves and facilities we have", she said.
"I can congratulate him on behalf of QLDC."
