Lakes Weekly Bulletin

27/05/2026

Rachel Rose - ‘Rose’ing to the occasion

Rachel Rose is just one of those people who’s always putting her hand up to help. She may have studied politics in her homeland of England, and worked in IT, but she soon discovered it was people she loved most, and helping them.

Since then she’s helped everyone from migrants with housing and visa problems and those with mental health challenges to women facing fertility issues and others who just find it downright hard to stay living in Queenstown.

While the early IT world was “a bit geeky” when she first began, Rachel naturally gravitated into IT recruitment where she found her niche – Human Resources where she’s been happily ensconced locally for 12 years.

Read the full story:

Rachel with her family at a Snail Party while on holiday in Vietnam last year. From left, Mark, Ruby, Vietnamese host Dung, and Scarlett.

27/05/2026

This is the time of year you catch up on all those things you meant to get done over the summer months and all those things that will make spring just easier. Ben Elms talks all about garlic - now's the perfect time of year to get planting and reap the rewards after winter!

As winter creeps up upon us and I’m still moaning about that summer, it’s easy to think there’s not much to do in the garden at this time of year. Yet it is a very busy time of year if you want it to be.This is the time of year you catch up on all those things you meant to get done over the su...

25/05/2026

Join this week's conversation with the Lakes Weekly poll on current Queenstown issues. The poll should take less than 2 minutes of your time. Follow the link to answer the questions:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XLZXY22

The results of these questions will be published in next week’s print edition.
Your response to the survey is anonymous and we don’t publish individual responses.

Subscribe to LWB's polls: https://forms.gle/DPHWEcFkTGQaTcjK9

25/05/2026

Editorial 1052

Celebrating Four Years of Te Atamira
by Ruth Heath

This month, Te Atamira celebrates another year of existence. And what an incredible existence it is. Only four years young and what an extraordinary gift and asset this is for our community.

When Te Atamira opened its doors in 2022, it reflected a strong belief that arts and culture are an essential part of healthy, connected communities, fulfilling a clear need for a facility of this kind in our region. Alongside presenting art in its many forms and creating space for creativity to be seeded and made, Te Atamira was established as a place for people to gather, participate, learn, create and connect.

A few years on, I see and hear every day that Te Atamira is proving the value of that vision.

Every week, more than 2,000 people walk through our doors for exhibitions, performances, workshops, classes, kōrero, music, dance and connection. They experience local creativity alongside artists of world-class scale, including our upcoming exhibition with internationally celebrated jewellery artist Lisa Walker.

And the stories are moving: the parent who found community through Wriggle & Rhyme after feeling isolated. The older adult rediscovering purpose through artmaking. The young person realising creativity could become a pathway, not just a hobby. The person quietly saying, “I feel like I belong here.”

People tell us: “Te Atamira has changed my life.” “It has made Queenstown feel like a proper town with facilities based on building community.”

In a world that increasingly feels disconnected and transactional, spaces like this matter more than ever.

Recent Helen Clark Foundation research found social cohesion in New Zealand is declining, and that one of the strongest protective factors is investment in places where people can meaningfully connect across differences. That is exactly the role places like Te Atamira play.

We often celebrate sports and recreation facilities as essential infrastructure for wellbeing - and rightly so. But arts and cultural spaces deserve to be seen the same way. Creativity helps us celebrate joy, process grief, preserve culture, build empathy and strengthen social connection. It helps us imagine better futures.

Te Atamira is a living expression of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga - care, connection and belonging. Beneath the global tourism image, this region is home to a deeply creative community seeking meaning, expression and connection to place.

None of this happens by accident. Te Atamira exists because people believed in it - our founding philanthropists, Te Atamira Whakatipu Community Trust Board, mana whenua, our amazing team, residents, artists, volunteers, partners, funders, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Three Lakes Cultural Trust, and the many community members who continue to shape and support this place every day.

Te Atamira belongs to all of us, and we can’t wait to share what’s next with you.

24/05/2026

The Wakatipu Toy Library — a beloved community-run service lending quality toys, games and play equipment to hundreds of local families — is facing its most urgent challenge yet. With the Queenstown Events Centre undergoing redevelopment, the Toy Library must vacate its current Frankton premises and has found a temporary base nearby, thanks to the supportive team at Remarkables Park Limited. But it must raise $60,000 by mid-year to fit out the interim space and keep the service running without interruption.

The Wakatipu Toy Library — a beloved community-run service lending quality toys, games and play equipment to hundreds of local families — is facing its most urgent challenge yet. With the Queenstown Events Centre undergoing redevelopment, the Toy Library must vacate its current Frankton premises...

20/05/2026

👀 Have you seen the snow guns going up Coronet Peak the past couple of weeks? They've flicked the switch on their $2 million "snow factory" to lay down the first coat.

Weeks before ski field lifts usually start spinning, Queenstown's Coronet Peak has flipped the switch on a $2 million "snow factory" to lay down the first coat in Autumn.

20/05/2026

Gillian Macleod - In safe hands

A Queenstown architect for almost 50 years and Queenstown Lakes District councillor for nine, Gillian Macleod also juggled motherhood - four kids, and multiple voluntary roles, amid the many meetings.

Now 70, she was not only very involved with Frankton Playcentre, school PTAs and the Environmental Defence Society back in the day, but also the Wakatipu Yacht Club and Ski Club, and, out of necessity, the local babysitting club. Busy mums took turns sitting each other’s kids.

Passionate about preserving architectural treasures, Gillian also founded the Wakatipu Heritage Trust.

Read the full article:

A Queenstown architect for almost 50 years and Queenstown Lakes District councillor for nine, Gillian Macleod also juggled motherhood - four kids, and multiple voluntary roles, amid the many meetings.Now 70, she was not only very involved with Frankton Playcentre, school PTAs and the Environmental D...

20/05/2026

On Thursday, 21 May between the hours of 10am - 2pm, Queenstown and Arrowtown RSAs in conjunction with Veterans Affairs New Zealand are offering information clinics for all service personnel, whatever their service or age, at the Queenstown Events Centre, Joe O’Connell Drive Frankton.

On Thursday, 21 May between the hours of 10am - 2pm, Queenstown and Arrowtown RSAs in conjunction with Veterans Affairs New Zealand are offering information clinics for all service personnel, whatever their service or age, at the Queenstown Events Centre, Joe O’Connell Drive Frankton.WE KNOW YOU A...

19/05/2026

Have you checked out Showbiz Queenstown's 9 to 5 The Musical yet? It's funny, wholesome and full of catchy tunes – following three unlikely female friends as they take control of their office and learn there is nothing they can’t do – even in a man’s world.

Showbiz Queenstown are bringing 9 to 5 the Musical to the Memorial Centre this week. The show features music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and is based on the seminal 1980 hit movie. Opening night for the company’s annual production is this Thursday with nine shows running until Saturday, 23 May.The ...

18/05/2026

Editorial 1051

6 months on from the election
by John Glover, Mayor, QLDC

The election last October delivered a number of ‘change’ candidates – myself included. So a fair question to ask is “what has changed?” six months on.

My priority has been fostering inclusivity around the council table – no a and b team, sharing workloads, responsibilities and opportunities. Allowing councillors space to lead agendas on their committees, and supporting our governance role of oversight and organisational accountability.

We agreed on a new committee structure to better achieve this and have recruited three exceptional individuals to sit on our Risk & Assurance committee. Finance is a stand alone committee and we have a new Organisational Excellence committee with governance of a fair chunk of the organisations ‘what we do and how we do it’.
We are in the advanced stages of building a board of directors for the new council-owned company that will deal with water and wastewater in the district and are ready to shortlist candidates to fill QLDC’s CE position on a permanant basis.

I believe that in order to deliver meaningful change we need the right people in the right places and a team of councillors working towards better outcomes for our community. No winners, no losers. Better decision making. And that takes time.

A measure will be how well we navigate some imminent decisions that are potentailly very divisive. Our response to some significant proposed rates rises. Do we accept a regional deal agreement that might be more hui than doi. Our approach to governments’ stick wielding ‘hurry up’ to mix and merge with other district councils as regional councils are abolished.

As councillors we are moving into the ‘how to make meaningiful and lasting change’ discussion. A move away from council BAU.

Restoring community trust is a key outcome we are striving for. Being open, being out there, being honest. It will take time to shift the dial here. We hear the cynicism. We took time to ask community groups and stakeholders what they are looking for in our next CE. We are trying to be more out there in the media. We are using councillors as advocates to government on your behalf.

Our ongoing challenge is how on earth do we ensure that infrastructure and services keep pace with our supercharged rate of residential growth? It takes time, money and people to ensure pipes and drains go to the right places at the right time but when fast track planning potentially delivers the equivalent of the population of Wānaka into the Whakatipu basin that becomes incrimentally harder.

The district builds five times more housing per head of population than any other large council in the country. This can only end well if government funds and delivers on its functions – state highways that aren’t gridlocked, schools that aren’t bursting at the seams and access to health that meets our needs. We welcome the investment in health recently announced by Minister Brown and look forward to constructive and collaborative discussions with other crown agencies that lead to wider investment in the district.

Good relationships around the council table, with our communities, with mana whenua, with government.

These foundational steps don’t make for sexy, newsworthy, clickbait headlines but without them we won’t make the meaningful change that we know is needed.