Queenstown, New Zealand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Queenstown-Lakes District)

Queenstown

Urban Area	Permanent Population	10,990 (2007)
	Floating Population	25,000 - 35,000 (Winter Season)
	Extent
Territorial Authority	Name	Queenstown Lakes District Council
Regional Council	Name	Otago

Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin lake shaped like a staggered lightning bolt, and has spectactular views of nearby mountains.

There are various apocryphal accounts of how the town was named, the most popular suggesting that a local gold digger exclaimed that the town was "fit for Queen Victoria". It is sometimes disparagaingly referred to as "Vegas by the Lake" for a perceived fixation on commerce-oriented tourism, especially adventure and ski tourism. It is popular with young international and New Zealand travellers alike.

The town is the largest centre in Central Otago, but for some administrative purposes it is considered part of Southland. According to the 2006 census, the usually resident population of the Queenstown urban area (including Frankton and Kelvin Heights) is 10422^[1], an increase of 22.1% since 2001.

Its neighbouring towns and districts include Arrowtown, Wanaka, Alexandra, and Cromwell. The nearest cities are Dunedin and Invercargill.

1 Tourism
- 1.1 Highlights
- 1.2 Gallery
2 Climate
3 Transport
4 Sister cities
5 References
6 External links

A resort town, Queenstown is a centre for adventure tourism. Skiing, jet boating, bungy jumping, mountain biking and tramping are all strong promotional themes.

Along with Mount Ruapehu, Queenstown is a major centre for snow sports in New Zealand, with people from all over the country and many parts of the world travelling to ski at the four main mountain skifields (Cardrona Alpine Resort, Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Treble Cone).

In recent years Queenstown's hostels have become a popular destination for young Australian and American tourists. Queenstown provides adventure tourism during the day and a vibrant nightlife scene during the evenings.

Locally, Queenstown has a reputation as one of New Zealand's wine and cuisine centres. Neighbouring, historic Arrowtown features excellent restaurants and bars, and Queenstown lies close to the centre of a small wine producing region, reputed to be the world's southernmost. Pinot noir produced in this area fetches premium prices.

Queenstown Airport has scheduled flights to Auckland, Christchurch and Sydney year-round and Wellington, Melbourne and Brisbane seasonally.

Queenstown and the surrounding area contain many locations used in the filming of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Lake Wakatipu - TSS Earnslaw, Kingston Flyer
Adventure Tourism, jetboats, bungy jump, skiing, river surfing, sky diving,mountain biking, paragliding
A round of golf at Millbrook Resort - 150-year-old wheat farm, now a luxury resort.
Cricket (new One Day International venue) and Golf
Queenstown Airport at Frankton
Skyline Gondola and luge
Winter festival
Goldmining, Arrowtown, Central Otago history, sheep farming and Walter Peak station.
Southern Lakes District & Milford Sound/Homer Tunnel
Glenorchy & Routeburn track

The view from the Skyline Gondola	The Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown	Queenstown with the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu in the background	The TSS Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown harbour
View of Queenstown airport from Deer Park	View of Queenstown from Skyline Gondola Lookout, September 07

Panorama of the view from the Remarkables towards Queenstown Airport, with Queenstown beyond.

Queenstown.com Photo Galleries

Queenstown has a alpine climate with winters that have clear blue skies and snow capped mountains. Summer has long warm days with temperatures that can reach 26°C.

Weather averages for Queenstown
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	22.6 (73)	22.7 (73)	19.9 (68)	16.1 (61)	11.9 (53)	8.6 (47)	8.2 (47)	10.3 (51)	13.5 (56)	16.2 (61)	18.6 (65)	20.7 (69)	15.8 (60)
Average low °C (°F)	10.7 (51)	10.6 (51)	8.8 (48)	6.2 (43)	3.3 (38)	0.7 (33)	0.1 (32)	1.3 (34)	3.6 (38)	5.6 (42)	7.4 (45)	9.4 (49)	5.6 (42)
Precipitation mm (inch)	78 (3.1)	58 (2.3)	80 (3.1)	75 (3)	89 (3.5)	82 (3.2)	65 (2.6)	73 (2.9)	69 (2.7)	95 (3.7)	72 (2.8)	77 (3)	913 (35.9)
Source: NIWA Climate Data^[2] 1971 – 2000

Queenstown International Airport was upgraded in the 1990s to handle jet aircraft, including international flights from Australia. Due to sustained heavy growth, further terminal expansion was undertaken in 2005 and 2006, with more construction currently ongoing. The airport is serviced by regular domestic services from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Air New Zealand and Qantas also operate regular international services from Melbourne and Sydney, the frequency being much increased over the ski season. Queenstown airport is New Zealand's busiest helicopter base, and is also heavily utilised for tourist 'flightseeing', especially to Milford Sound and Mount Cook, using both fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

The primary road access to the Queenstown area is via State Highway 6 (SH6), which travels from Cromwell through the Kawarau Gorge to Frankton, where a 9-km spur (SH6A) leads to the CBD and connects with the Glenorchy Road. SH6 continues south, crossing the Kawarau river before heading down the eastern side of Lake Wakatipu to Kingston before emerging on the plains of Southland. A difficult road over the Crown Range leads to Cardrona skifield and Wanaka, and is New Zealand's highest paved public road.

Queenstown is the departure point for a large number of day trips to Milford Sound. Due to the ardurous nature of the very popular trip (12 hours return), various measures have been proposed to cut the trip time, including a monorail and a new tunnel through the mountains.

See also:Transport to Milford Sound