A 1991 Toyota Hiace occupied by the woman and a female companion was hit by a Northern Southland Transport Holdings truck as the van pulled out of Goldfields Heights on to Frankton Rd at 3.05pm yesterday.
Constable Tracey Haggart, of Queenstown, said speed and alcohol were not thought to be factors and the women were wearing seatbelts.
Traffic was reduced to a crawl for more than an hour as Queenstown firefighters used cutting tools to remove the driver-side door and free the woman, who was trapped in the wreckage more than 30 minutes.
St John Wakatipu ambulance officers treated and transferred her to hospital.
The 32-year-old Queenstown male truck driver was sore and shaken but suffered no apparent injuries, Const Haggart said.
Wakatipu Home care-worker and first-aider Katrina Steedman was one of the first motorists at the scene.
"I was driving into Queenstown and saw the truck on the wrong side of the road, four cars in front. Speed wasn't out of the ordinary.
"I didn't realise it was pushing the van at the time. People in front were all braking, you could hear the noise."
Mrs Steedman said she pulled over and helped a "20-something Italian lady" who was out of the passenger seat and on the footpath.
A passing nurse assisted the Canadian driver before St John and the fire brigade arrived.
The care-worker sat with the passenger in an ambulance until officers assessed her.
"She's a wee bit sore, but OK," Mrs Steedman said.
Wakatipu emergency services personnel were also busy earlier yesterday when a Korean family of four in a Honda CRV went 20m down a bank and landed on its roof, at a bend on the Queenstown side of Closeburn about 10.40am.
St John ambulance officers checked the family but there were no injuries and no other vehicles were involved.
Sergeant Steve Hindmarsh, of Queenstown, said a charge of careless use of a motor vehicle would be laid against the the father of the family.
