Plans for a controversial tunnel between Queenstown and Milford Sound have been rejected by Conservation Minister Nick Smith.

Catherine Smith enjoys the high life with great views at Matakauri Lodge.

Queenstown bouncer Jonathan Dixon says his acquittal on two assault charges vindicates him and clears his "tarnished" name.

A "severe'' and shallow magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck near Milford Sound this morning, starting a series of at least seven shakes.

'We don't want trash renting cheap houses.' Submissions like that against a new housing development in Arrowtown have outraged a young mum.

A Queenstown police constable says he is "quite proud and humbled" to be recognised for bravery by the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand.

If the devastating World Bar fire in Queenstown on Friday afternoon had happened late at night it might have been difficult to get people out, southern region fire safety officer Stuart Ide said.

While SkyCity this month got the nod for its controversial $402 million Auckland convention centre, a Queenstown expansion proceeds almost entirely outside the spotlight.

Fire crews were this evening battling a fire in a four-storey building in Queenstown's main tourist strip.

The Government may contribute funding to a proposed convention centre in Queenstown, Prime Minister John Key says.

A Queenstown man who was arrested after he was seen driving a car towing a boat with passengers standing in it was yesterday sentenced for driving with a breath alcohol level more than three times the legal limit.

A ex-former bouncer who posted footage of rugby player Mike Tindall being kissed by an old flame on YouTube was after the notoriety, the Crown says.

A Korean woman visiting Queenstown was allegedly racially abused and robbed by members of a stag party on Saturday night.

Queenstown's district council regulatory organisation has inadvertently released, via email, the details of every single complaint it's received over the past 10 years.

Queenstown's disgraced former NZ Post worker, jailed for stealing thousands of items of mail from Lakes district residents, was often too hungover to complete her duties.

A disgraced former postie who stole more than 21,000 items of mail from Queenstown residents failed to fulfil her "sacrosanct" duty of delivering private correspondence.

The Queenstown postal worker who stole thousands of pieces of mail from Wakatipu residents has been jailed for 17 months.

Editorial: All airlines should dwell on Judge Phillips' concerns about the pressure on pilots. Safety rules are not there to be bent at a whim. Trust in airline pilots will soon dwindle if they are.

A Frenchwoman who until January had never been in trouble with the law has been sentenced to two months' jail and is also subject to a deportation notice.

A pilot who operated a commercial passenger jet in a careless manner in Queenstown has been fined $5100 and must do extensive retraining.

A man who urinated on an American woman in a Queenstown bar on Boxing Day has been lambasted by a judge.

A Cromwell man who groped two women at the Gibbston Valley Summer Winery Concert says he can't remember the incident and is "totally at a loss" to explain his actions.

Independent commissioners are backing the $18 million replacement Kawarau Falls bridge.