Latest news with #NZONE
Otago Daily Times
14-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
NZONE scoping Kingston drop zone
Queenstown skydiving operator NZONE could move south to Kingston. Its parent company, Australian adventure tourism operator Experience Co, has been talking to the township's community for nearly a year about shifting from its Jack's Point airstrip to one on Kingston Station. Its current site, where it has operated since 1990, sits on land owned by Australia-based RCL Group. The Hanley's Farm developer is seeking consent for a 2800-home Homestead Bay subdivision, under fast-track legislation, that would eventually rub out the airstrip. Experience Co boss John O'Sullivan says it has a lease and resource consent to operate at Jack's Point until mid-2031, and intends to stay until then "at a minimum". He reckons with massive developments like Homestead Bay, "planning's one thing and delivery is another". Kingston's just one of "a number" of potential sites it's looking at in the Whakatipu Basin, O'Sullivan says. He's not divulging the others "out of respect for those communities we're talking to, and because of competitive pressures". The Wollongong-based company bought NZONE in 2015, before purchasing Skydive Wānaka the following year. It also operated from a drop zone near Glenorchy — for which it still has a lease and resource consent — until a Covid-induced shutdown in 2020. He says it's engaging closely with Kingston's residents because it's "critical to have a social licence" wherever it operates. Tandem skydiving has a low impact on communities, with aircraft take-offs and landings, and parachute drops, able to be done on a "small footprint", he says. "We're good for the communities in which we operate. "We have a positive economic impact, we create jobs, and we bring visitors to the region that otherwise might not have been there. "That supports other tourism operators in those communities." Kingston Community Association chairwoman Kimberley Marshall says Experience Co's skydiving operations boss, Ken Stone, made a presentation at its annual meeting last July. NZONE's since carried out twosimulated parachute flights, while an actual parachute drop's inthe works. A residents' survey after the second flight prompted 40 responses and generated a series of questions — most have focused on the aircraft's engine noise and flight path, as well as the volume of customers' shouts and screams as they parachuted down. Stone's answers have been informative, she says. "Everything we've requested, they've been happy to do and provided us with information. "Not everyone's going to be happy about it, but I think the general sense is people are OK with it."
Otago Daily Times
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
From inspired to inspirational
On Sunday night, Queenstowner Cam Marshall, 21, settled in with a pizza to watch Runn, a documentary detailing Nedd Brockmann's journey to run 100km a day, for 46 days, across Australia. "I just got super-inspired and thought, 'what am I doing?' "I'm just sitting on the couch eating pizza. "This guy's out here running 100km a day for 46 days." Having just returned from a working holiday in Japan, and not due to start back at Queenstown's NZONE until tomorrow, Mr Marshall figured he had nothing else planned on Monday, so on a whim decided to attempt his first 100km run, setting out to raise $100 for I Am Hope. The farthest he had previously run was 27km, about seven months ago. Mr Marshall promptly took himself to bed, woke up about 2.30am, made a rough plan for his adventure and set up his Givealittle page, "Running 100km for Mental Health — No Training, Just Purpose". "Obviously mental health [is] such a big topic in New Zealand, especially among young people," he says. "I feel like I've had my own sort of battles with mental health growing up, especially like leaving high school. "It's not easy being a young person in New Zealand, I find. "There's a lot of bad things that people can focus on, but I wanted to sort of bring some light and ... donate money to mental health and help out." He set off from his parents' Threepwood home about 4.45am, intending to do the entire distance unsupported. But as soon as he started posting on Instagram, "people started reaching out and wanting to help". His jaunt took him into Queenstown, where he stopped at FreshChoice for some food, then to Frankton, where there was another stop at New World, and then on to the Kelvin Heights golf course. He doubled back and headed towards Arrowtown — his mum's cousin dropped off some more food at Morven Ferry — but around the 75km mark he blew out his right foot. 'It just got worse and worse ... so I just had to walk it out. "I knew it was going to be a long 25km." By then, though, he had a growing support crew, who were with him every last step of the way. Mr Marshall finished about 9pm, "right outside my house" with about 10 people, including his sister who travelled over from Wānaka to keep an eye on him overnight. By Wednesday, he had obliterated his fundraising target, with over $3100 donated to the cause. Mr Marshall said he intended to keep the Givealittle page open and was considering another fundraising challenge down the track. "I love keeping fit, and I think there's potentially some room down the line to be doing a bit more of this."
