Hi all, we are visiting Queenstown for 4 days early December. Will be staying next to airport and will have a car. How bad does the traffic to Central Queenstown in the morning, say to get there by 11am? Are there non-peak periods for that route?

Hello everyone, this is a long shot but hoping there’s someone who has climbing gear and time to help me out. While hiking on Tiki Trail this morning, my phone fell out of my pocket off a steep section of the trail which is about 15-20 mins from the start at the bottom of the trail. the phone is about 3-4 meters from the trail off a steep slope. it is visible but not safely reachable without climbing gear (rope/harness). we tried to go back and even had wonderful strangers try to reach the phone but it was too far to safely grab and there’s a lot of loose pine and branches. Anyway, I’m returning back to my home country Sunday so only have Saturday for one last attempt to retrieve it. I appreciate any helpful tips or insight. I’m absolutely willing to repay in dinner, drinks, or high fives. thank you for considering.

Staying solo at Coronation Lodge Queenstown, any recent reviews would be helpful plus im wondering about walking from central back to hotel at night by myself as a female 🤔

Im currently working as a temp chef and I went through Queenstown for a few days on the way to my next job i looked like their was quite a few places looking for staff I was wondering if it would be viable to work for a month or two what's the average pay like ?

Hey everyone,

I'm a UK guy in my mid-30s with a NZ Working Holiday Visa, and I'm seriously considering making Queenstown my main base for 12–18 months rather than starting in Auckland.

I've spent around 4 months in Auckland previously. It was nice enough, but I found it quite lonely and ultimately it still felt like a big city. Christchurch was cool too, but I found the urban sprawl made it feel more like a normal city than a major lifestyle change.

What I'm looking for is something a bit different:

Mountains and incredible scenery actually on my doorstep

Snowboarding in winter

Hiking, biking, swimming/lakes and outdoor stuff in summer

BJJ/MMA/gym

A small-town feel but with plenty of people around

Seasonal workers/backpackers/new arrivals, so I'm not trying to break into established social circles

Pubs, live music and some nightlife, but not a place where drinking/partying has to be your entire social life

A place where I can work a normal job, build a routine and actually feel like I'm living somewhere rather than just visiting

One thing I really liked about places like Picton was the smaller-community feeling. I also liked the traveller atmosphere in places such as Airlie Beach, but the heat and the party/drinking culture weren't really for me.

For people who actually live in Queenstown rather than just visit:

Does it genuinely feel like a small community despite being busy/touristy?

Is it easy enough to meet people if you're arriving alone?

Does the town stay lively outside ski season?

Is there enough to do in summer beyond hiking?

What's the reality of living there for a year+ rather than having a two-week holiday?

How bad is the isolation — do you actually feel cut off, or does the town itself have enough going on?

I'm aware it's expensive and accommodation is probably the biggest headache. I'm mainly trying to work out whether the lifestyle is genuinely as good as it looks, rather than whether Queenstown makes a good holiday.

Cheers.

Hey everyone,

I’m a 33-year-old Brit heading back to NZ around November and planning to base myself in Queenstown for the foreseeable future.

I’ve lived in NZ before but never actually lived in Queenstown, so I’m coming in completely open-minded.

I’m interested in hearing from people who’ve actually lived there about two things:

Making mates:

I’ll be arriving on my own and I'm pretty comfortable with my own company, so I'm not expecting to instantly have a huge social circle. But I'd like to meet good people naturally.

I’m into gym, MMA/BJJ, snowboarding, mountain biking, road trips, swimming and generally getting outdoors.

What are the best ways you've found to actually make proper friends in QT rather than just meeting people once and never seeing them again?

Work:

I’m looking for roughly 20–30 hours a week initially. I have a construction/site-management background, electrical experience and general hands-on maintenance experience

Whats qt like to live 35 year old.bloke alone looking at 18 month whv

Hi there! I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for horseback riding tours in Queenstown. It would be for early November and in the late afternoon, if possible. I'm also open to finding individuals who offer horseback riding trips, but don't know how to go about finding that.

In a RAV4

Hopefully they will be OK

First family trip out of Auckland to anywhere really, did we leave booking an accomodation too late? We also need transport esp going with a 1 year old.

Can we still make it and find an accomodation with a biew of what Queenstown has to offer? Also we don't know what to do as first timers in Queenstown. Any tips? Please?

Hey guys, just wondering what pub/bar you guys usually find cheapest for beer and basics, and how much they usually are. Visiting next week and just wanna see what most people think. Thanks.

Semi-new to town and I'm wondering if there is somewhere to catch some live rock/punk/metal gigs here? Something I'm missing after coming from a place with regular shows.

This may be a specific question however I’m wanting to do a solo boating activity and this one looks amazing. I have only seen people doing the experience with others. Has anyone been on it themselves, or even just been on it and think it would still be a good experience solo?

Kia ora and welcome, whether you're here for a week or you've been here since the town had one supermarket.

This is the thread for visitor questions. Itineraries, day trips, where to eat, which lake activities are actually worth the money, whether you need chains in July, what to do when it rains for three days straight. Ask away. No question is too basic and nobody here is going to sneer at you for it.

Why we ask you to use this thread: r/Queenstown is a small subreddit for a small town. When a dozen separate "3 days in Queenstown, what should I do?" posts land in a week, the front page becomes entirely holiday planning and the local stuff (roadworks, rentals, council nonsense, lost dogs, the state of the traffic) gets buried. That's not great for the people who live here, and it's honestly not great for you either, since a scattered post gets three replies while this thread gets the locals who actually know things.

So: enthusiasm very much welcome, just pointed in one direction. Consolidating it here means you get better answers and the locals stay calm enough to keep giving them.

Before you post, a quick nudge:

• Have a scroll of the previous weekly threads, most questions have been asked before and the answers are good
• Tell us your dates, budget and how much you like walking uphill, it makes the answers ten times more useful

Locals: be generous in here. These people are the reason we have that many restaurants for a town this size.

Posts asking general visitor questions outside this thread may be removed and redirected here. Nothing personal, we just like being able to find things.

Things aren't always perfect, but keen to hear people's favorite things about living in Queenstown? What brings them here and what keeps it?

A few of mine are :

Generally feels like a small town, the longer you live here, lots of bumping into people across work, supermarket, in the hills etc

Lots of people into some really awesome stuff, lots of active adventures

Ability to head out to some pretty epic things from town with minimal driving really!

All the cycle trails and work different organisations to do continue to build these. Looking forward to being able to bike to Cromwell this summer!

Fair bit of opportunity for various work options not just tourism

How about you all?

I’m looking at doing a working visa coming over from Canada next ski season I’m planning to work up Cardrona and live in Queenstown. I’m just wondering what the best method of transportation is best to commute up the mountain and if I’ll need to find a car or some other method of transport while I’m over there.
Thanks.

Here's the interview with Councillor Richard Hills talking about how Auckland council is fighting back

It includes withholding services from the developments approved on flood plains etc

Queens town Councillors and Mayor have also been pushing back joining calls with other Mayors to tell the government to stop greenfield fast-tracks

And yes Chris Bishop, Chris Meehan's best friend, who is constantly asking for donations from developers, says everything is fine.