On the Up: Wānaka tradie-turned-tailor resurrects forgotten NZ fashion label from backyard shed
Nikolai Solakof, a former builder and self-described 'marketing nerd', stumbled across a vintage canvas jacket at a Queenstown vintage reseller in 2022.
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NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
On the Up: Wānaka tradie-turned-tailor resurrects forgotten NZ fashion label from backyard shed
A Wānaka tradie with no background in fashion has revived a long-lost New Zealand clothing brand from a backyard shed. Nikolai Solakof, a former builder and self-described 'marketing nerd', stumbled across a vintage canvas jacket at a Queenstown vintage reseller in 2022.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Iconic heritage-listed Cardrona Hotel goes on the market
Heritage-listed Cardrona Hotel is going on the market. Photo: Supplied to RNZ One of the country's most photographed pubs - and a fixture of the Central Otago landscape - is going on the market. Expressions of interest open on Friday for the 162-year-old, heritage-listed Cardrona Hotel. Cade Thornton, who has owned the pub with his partner Alexis and James and Fleur Jenneson since 2013, said the decision to sell was indescribably difficult. The group decided it was time to step back and focus on their young families, he said. "It's just such a friendly, happy place. It's a great environment to work and to be the custodian, the captain of that, is tremendously rewarding, and to see the place change in our time. It's defined my life, really." The hotel on the Crown Range Road between Wānaka and Queenstown included a restaurant, year-round beer garden, and 17 ensuite hotel rooms sleeping up to 44 guests. Its facade dated back to a now-vanished gold rush town that thrived in the 1860s, when Cardrona was a bustling settlement supporting thousands of Otago gold rush miners. Cade Thornton said it employed 40-50 staff, and the hotel was often fully booked. "The business is in really good stead. I've got some very long-term senior staff who love the pub and their jobs and their roles, and they want to see it through with the new owner," he said. He said the hotel attracted people from all walks of life. "We'll have guests arriving by helicopter, all dressed up for a nice meal, and then the local farmers will come in, leaving their gumboots by the door. I don't think there's any other place quite like it in New Zealand." The hotel on the Crown Range Road between Wānaka and Queenstown included a restaurant, year-round beer garden, and 17 ensuite hotel rooms sleeping up to 44 guests. Photo: Supplied to RNZ The Cardrona Hotel was being sold by private negotiation as a freehold going concern. Thornton said the owners would not be publicly disclosing a price, although in 2010, prior to expansion works, it was valued at $3 - 4 million. He hoped the next owner would have a "real passion" for the pub. "Fifty percent of buying it would be that you'd have to love it. You couldn't just look at it as a business opportunity. You'd have to be passionate about the business, the pub, its history, its potential," he said. "If someone's wanting it, who's got the means and the drive, I don't think they'd ever regret it," he said. Expressions of interest were open from Friday, 5 July until Friday, 15 August.
Otago Daily Times
24-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Polytech shuts down cookery course
The lack of a commercial kitchen is a driver in the closure of one of the courses at the Otago Polytechnic Central Campus. Deputy executive director academic delivery Chris Williamson and deputy executive director industry training and innovation Mark Cartwright said in a joint statement three programmes — one each in Cromwell and Wānaka and one in Dunedin — were under review. Otago Polytechnic has a campus in Cromwell town and one in Bannockburn. Late last year it was announced the brewing and stonemasonry courses run at Cromwell would be discontinued from this year. At that meeting Otago Polytechnic executive director Megan Potiki said Otago Polytechnic was in debt and costs would have to be reduced to get it standing back on its own feet. There was a risk it could be forced into a federation of polytechnics and that was not wanted, she said. The Otago secondary-tertiary college certificate in cookery, which has operated out of dedicated kitchen in the town campus, will also come to an end after the facility is sold and all Central Otago programmes are consolidated at the Bannockburn campus. The programme, which involved 16 students attending two days a week, will cease as the polytechnic has been unable to secure an alternative commercial kitchen. The closure will result in the loss of 0.61 fulltime-equivalent positions, affecting a lecturer and a technician. Central campus director John Christie confirmed the cookery course would end, but emphasised that trades training in beauty, hospitality and carpentry would continue at the Bannockburn site. Around 200 students from Alexandra, Wānaka and Queenstown attend these programmes at present. If a suitable commercial kitchen could be found, closing the cookery course could be reconsidered, Mr Christie said. The Wānaka-based level 4 New Zealand certificate in outdoor and adventure education was not financially sustainable due to low numbers of students. It was proposed to stop the programme from the end of the year. One staff role would go immediately and the other at the end of the year, when the current students had completed their studies. Efforts to increase enrolments had not worked and the course was financially unsustainable, the statement said. The third course to face the chop is the Dunedin-based New Zealand certificate in plumbing, gas fitting and drain laying (level 3). The course was not viable and an announcement by the Tertiary Education Commission that it would not fund more than one year of the one-semester programme led to its demise and the loss of one fulltime position, the statement said. Yesterday's statement said staff had been consulted about the proposed changes. "We have met with the kaimahi [staff] concerned to explain the proposed changes for these three programmes and outlined the process for providing feedback," it said. "We will carefully consider all the feedback we receive before making any final decisions, and will also ensure kaimahi are offered support during this consultation process."
