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Otago Daily Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Village people hail ground breaking
Twenty years after developers bought land immediately south of Kingston township for a subdivision, the first dirt has just been broken. To the delight of, to date, 87 section buyers, the construction of Kingston Village has begun. Those purchasers — mostly families and first-home buyers — bought sections from just $299,000 in two releases that sold out each sales morning. Ranging from 350 square metres to 715sqm, the sections are among 217 granted consent, so far, of about 750 allowed under the Kingston Village Special Zone. Titles on these first lots are expected by next winter, by when about 20,000 cubic metres of soil will have been shifted. Beyond the sections themselves, Kingston Village Ltd (KVL) — comprising Goodman brothers Patrick, Greg and Craig, whose late father, Sir Patrick Goodman, was a renowned food industrialist — is planning a commercial centre, new parks and recreation, provision for a primary school and a childcare centre. Another attraction's the subdivision's proximity to the Lake Whakatipu waterfront. Among the first people to sign up for a section were couple Beth Lyons and Chris Heald, from North Wales and Yorkshire, who've lived in Queenstown for eight years and teach at Remarkables and Shotover Primary, respectively. While grateful they're living in a shared ownership home thanks to the local community housing trust, teacher salaries meant their mortgage budget had only stretched to looking at freehold properties in Cromwell. They arrived at 9am on the dot on the first open day to look at the land and meet the Bayleys team, and, two hours after heading home were "fairly dead set" on buying, eventually securing their site on the first sales day. "We were so impressed with how close it was to the lake, the awesome views, the fact we won't feel as crammed in as we would with other suburbs, and the price," Lyons says. "We felt relieved, excited and grateful, and after talking to different building companies we've got plans drawn up for a three- to four-bed home, and we can't wait for titles to come through. "For us, the big bonuses are it's sunny and an easy commute to work along the lake, but for two people from the UK it's not going to feel much like a commute." Kingston residents Laura and Dan Koot, who have two toddlers, are also happy buyers after living seven years in the township. "Dan has his own building company and builds here locally, so it made sense to get in behind this incredible opportunity," Laura says. "As a working mum it's hard when there's no daycare here and we have to drive to Frankton for all appointments, so we fully support the provision of more services." KVL senior development manager Nicola Tristram hails the first sod-turning as "a significant milestone". "A lot of work has been done to get to this point. "Kingston has a fascinating history, and our hope is to see the community embracing another phase of growth, offering a lakeside lifestyle that's increasingly rare in Queenstown."
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Squash squeezed out, again
Queenstown Squash Club's Dave Gardiner, left, and Hamish Foster are urging council to include squash courts in its new Events Centre stadium. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER Squash New Zealand and Squash Otago are backing Queenstown Squash Club's plea for council to incorporate courts in its $46million plans to up-size the Events Centre. The club has two worn and ageing courts by the Recreation Ground — "two of the worst in New Zealand", stalwart member Dave Gardiner says — and inadequate changing rooms, and can't modernise them while the land's earmarked for stage two of the arterial bypass. After council in April green-lit a concept design tender process for a new stadium, sport and rec manager Simon Battrick told Mountain Scene squash is "not in our core scope", though is a possible add-on. In response, Squash Otago chair Benjamin Hutchison says the current facility's "no longer fit for purpose". "It cannot grow, cannot host events, and cannot serve its membership properly. "Without a new home, the sport's future in Queenstown is in jeopardy — and once lost, it will not come back. "If Queenstown does not act now, it will simply be left behind [by Cromwell, Wanaka and Alexandra's expanding facilities]. "Integrating squash into the Events Centre offers a high return with a small footprint. "There is a national case, too — Queenstown could be the next iconic host of the NZ Squash Open. "Imagine a glass court under lights, the Remarkables as a backdrop, and Queenstown on screens around the world." Reiterating Squash Otago, Squash NZ also references the sport's rapid growth worldwide — it debuts at the next Olympics — and highlights its health and mental wellbeing benefits for all, affordability and accessibility, and year-round opportunities, especially during Queenstown's winters. Gardiner comments: "It just seems like successive councillors have had squash in the long-term plan, and then it seems to always get dropped." He recalls when playing inter-club, "teams didn't even want to come here because the courts are just so cold and not up to scratch". Hamish Foster, who, like Gardiner, is on the club subcommittee pushing for better courts, says "the visibility of squash in its current location is pretty small compared to if it was at the Events Centre, and it would be centre stage for other users [of the stadium]". "You would grow the game massively by exposing it to so many people, including many who used to be squash players."
1News
15-06-2025
- Climate
- 1News
'This is ridiculous': South Island ski slopes kick into gear
You know winter has well and truly arrived when the South Island's commerical ski fields open for another season. The Remarkables and Coronet Peak near Queenstown, Cardorna Alpine Resort and Mt Hutt in Canterbury all opening the gates to keen ski bunnies — even with limited snow for some. Steve Hall, in his second season of running The Remarkables, told 1News, "[We] haven't had a lot of natural [snow], but [we] have got some great snowmaking, and you can see our coverage is looking really nice for where we're at." Just a handful of ski areas were ready for today's opening, but that did not stop people making the trip up on what was a bluebird day in the tourism Mecca. American tourist, Tyler from New Jersey told 1News: "The snow was awesome... this is ridiculous!" ADVERTISEMENT His friend, Andy from Seattle said, "it's so worth it, it's nice and dry and the snow guns are going and everyone's super stoked to be here". Over at Cardrona Alpine Resort, some had been waiting in line since 1am to be the first on chairlift. Chief mountains officer Laura Hedley said: "We've had a little bit of natural snow but we've just had a massive effort from our snow makers to get us open for today and there's so many people out there having a great time." The resort had also opened just a few areas on the mountain, with around 150 hectares of new terrain, known as Soho Basin, expected to make a debut later this month. There was hope for more of the white stuff falling in the next few weeks. Hall told 1News, "we're always doing snow dances". "I think if you're in this business, you're an optimist, but you're always doing snow dances," he laughed. ADVERTISEMENT While mother nature has not delivered a major amount of snow so far in the south, Mt Hutt in Canterbury had so much snow on Friday, when it was due to open, and had to hold off until Saturday. On top of all the openings, The Remarkables was also celebrating a major milestone — 40 years in business. A lot had changed over the decades for all of the ski fields, in particular, infrastructure upgrades. The Remarkables alone have spent more than $90m on new facilities and chairlifts over the past 10 years. "The base building, the three big high-speed, six-seater chairlifts, which is pretty amazing, it's world class stuff really," said Hall.
Otago Daily Times
30-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Son of Arrowtown's colourful life
Jim Childerstone, aka 'Five-mile Fred', who died recently, aged 90, was well known to many Whakatipu residents despite living out of town for the past 30 years. Philip Chandler delves into his full life and his interesting take on wilding pines. Forestry consultant, logger, writer, hiker, golfer, adventurer ... the list goes on. Third-generation Arrowtowner Jim Childerstone, who died recently, aged 90, might have lived with his wife Margot in North Otago for the past 30 years, but Arrowtown was still where his heart was. Raised there, his parents were Mary and Walter, and Mary's father was well-known local doctor, William Ferguson. When almost 7 he and Mary joined Walter in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where he developed tea plantations. However, it was World War 2, and as Japan was about to invade they escaped by boat to South Africa. At one school he learnt rugby "the South African way under a former Springbok", he said. On arriving home he returned to Arrowtown School. He wrote he and school mates risked their lives exploring old gold mining tunnels. In his book, Up the Rees Valley, he wrote about 60-plus years of local trips and tramps with friends including summiting, with a schoolmate, the Remarkables in 1952 during a challenging 16-hour day. Margot says at Lincoln College, near Christchurch, where he received an agricultural diploma and post-grad degree in soil and water, he paid for most of his books from goldpanning in Arrowtown. She adds he stayed an extra two years to play on the college basketball team. He started his journalism career at Auckland's Herald newspaper, but had the opportunity to earn more as a pneumatic drill operator before a stint as a Sydney Morning Herald court reporter. He later travelled to Europe, sleeping on beaches in Greece, then in Canada worked on the Calgary Herald and was a part-time ski patroller in Banff. He and Margot, who grew up in Argentina, met in a London pub and married close by, in Hampstead, in '68. Jim worked for the British government's Central Office of Information which relocated him to the Solomon Islands. "We had two and a-half years, which was fantastic," Margot says, "and Jim trained some young Solomon Islanders as reporters." They had a summer in Queenstown, Jim working as an Earnslaw stoker, then returned to England. They popped back for good in the mid-1970s and bought a 5.5-hectare Closeburn property, near Queenstown, which was about 70% covered in wilding pines. They lived in their pantechnicon, Margot recalls, while Jim built a log cabin from Corsican pines. Visitors commented on its lovely smell, she says — they later moved into a larger residence built of Douglas firs milled above One Mile Creek. Jim operated a portable mill, cutting timber, mostly wildings, for houses in nearby Sunshine Bay and Fernhill but also over at Walter Peak, at the Arrowtown golf course and even Stewart Island. He set up a timber yard in Industrial Place, then a larger one called Closeburn Timber Corner where today's Glenda Dr is. Meanwhile, he wrote his 'Five-mile Fred' column in Mountain Scene over three years — named after Queenstown's Five Mile Creek, not Frankton's later Five Mile. They were his and mates like 'Twelve-mile Trev's' musings on topics of the day from "up on the diggings". His columns made a book, Of gold dust, nuggets & bulldust, accompanied by Garrick Tremain cartoons. The Childerstones also developed the Closeburn Alpine Park campground, but were badly burnt in the '87 sharemarket crash. The couple, who eventually paid off most of their debts, moved first to Arrowtown then, helped by Lotto winnings, bought in Hampden, North Otago, in '94. Jim still frequented Queenstown, staying in hotels with Margot when she'd bring through Spanish and Italian tours during her days as a tour guide. He established a forestry consultancy, and took a stand against the wholesale destruction of wilding 'pests'. "There are practical ways of attacking the problem rather than the gung-ho attitude of fundamentalist conservation groups," he told Scene on the release of his book, The Wilding Conifer Invasion — Potential Resource or Pest Plant, in 2017. Pointing also to the ugliness of sprayed Douglas firs on hillsides, he argued wilding trees could be harvested for high-grade building timber and biofuels could be extracted from wood waste while also applauding locals Michael Sly and Mathurin Molgat for tapping wildings for essential oil products. Queenstown's Kim Wilkinson, who recalls hiking in the hills with Margot and Jim on Sundays before enjoying their hospitality, says "Jim was still hiking around the hills in his late 80s and even in his later years had the mental energy and enthusiasm of a young man in his 20s". Margot says "people are coming out of the woodwork saying 'he did this for me', nobody has a bad word to say about him". She reveals before he died there had been moves made for them to potentially retire to a pensioner flat in Arrowtown.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
'We want to get Queenstown moving again' - cable car companies target resort town
Whoosh as visualised on a central street in Queenstown. Photo: Supplied A cable car race is underway in Queenstown, as two different companies unveil their schemes to connect the resort town by high-wire. Whoosh and Southern Infrastructure Ltd have revealed blueprints of their proposed transport networks this week. Kiwi-owned Whoosh has been developing self-driving cabins to go on an elevated cable network , which riders would be able to book on an app. Whoosh_chief_executive_Chris_Allington. Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd Today at the Electrify Queenstown conference, Whoosh chief executive Chris Allington from the engineering firm Holmes Solutions revealed a map of where the six-part network could go. The network could link Frankton to Shotover Country to the Remarkables Ski Hill, but he said Whoosh was keen to adapt its plans to feedback from Queenstown locals. He said the first two kilometres or so - a pilot project around Remarkables Park - could be operational as soon as next year. "This isn't fiction, this isn't fake, this isn't an animation, this is actually coming. And it's coming fast," he told the crowd. Whoosh's vision for Queenstown. Photo: Supplied Work would begin this year, and it was just a matter of "dotting i's and crossing t's" and obtaining resource consent for the buildings, he said. Allington did not put a date on the wider network, besides saying Whoosh's modular design made it very quick to build. "It's not like we need to finish it all before any of it can open... it will just keep getting extended and keep rolling across in the direction, in the places, that Queenstown wants it to go," he said. So far, the network had a ballpark cost estimate of $250 million, he said. Whoosh was funded by shareholders and private equity from offshore, and Allington said he believed the price tag was achievable. "The funny thing is, it's actually easier to fund the big project than a small one, particularly stuff like this. It's clean, it's green, it's sustainable. There's lots of funding sources available for that," he said. But hot on Whoosh's heels was another initiative from Southern Infrastructure Ltd. Southern Infrastructure chief executive Ross Copland. Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd Chief executive Ross Copland described the company as less of an innovator, and more of a problem solver for the town's traffic woes. "We're not a supplier, so we don't have a particular technology. We're an infrastructure developer that's looking to solve a transport problem in Queenstown. We've looked really closely at all the options - our preference at this stage is a ropeway," he said. Southern Infrastructure planned to build an electric, high-speed urban gondola network around Queenstown, at a cost of about $200 million. It revealed a map of its planned network straddling seven stations, from Arthur's Point, to Queenstown central, to Ladies Mile, with stopoffs at Queenstown Airport and the Frankton bus hub. Queenstown Cable Car's indicative map. Photo: Supplied Copland said it was the sum of years of careful analysis of height limits, existing infrastructure, geotechnical stability and significant ecological areas. "It's almost a direct route into Queenstown, but importantly it bypasses a lot of those residential areas where the visual effects would be quite significant," he said. "We think it's a project that's consentable and also quite efficient." The project had backing from rich-lister Rod Drury, and support from one of the world's biggest ski lift companies, Doppelmayr. Copland admitted the company's goal of launching by the end of 2028 was "aggressive", but said the need was urgent. "There's a couple of different ways the project can be funded. We'd love to see it brought in as part of the public transport funding models so that people in the region, whether their visitors or locals, can have quite a seamless experience moving between bus, ferry and the cable. But that relies on a whole lot of decisions that are outside of our control, so local government central government will have a really key role in deciding," he said. "If that if that doesn't happen, then the funding model will be through, effectively, ticket prices, that will be paid by residents and visitors. The modelling we've done shows really strong growth and really strong uptake by passengers. So we think that under either of those scenarios, it's still a commercially viable project." Doppelmayr NZ chief executive Gareth Hayman. Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd Doppelmayr New Zealand chief executive Gareth Hayman hoped locals would see cable transit as a tried and tested option. "A gondola is not that scary at all. It's been, in use for the last 25 years within public transport networks. It's proven, it's tested, we understand what we need to do and we're here to make it happen," he said. Asked if Whoosh and Southern Infrastructure Ltd were competitors or allies, Allington said each was trying different methods to ease traffic congestion in Queenstown. "I think we're all trying to achieve the same thing. We want to get Queenstown moving again. We want to do that in a sustainable way," he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
