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.

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

Disgraced Queenstown postie Philippa Lynette Lindsay has admitted stealing thousands of pieces of mail destined for Wakatipu homes in the Queenstown District Court.

There's something very "Downunder" about the service in Queenstown. Waiters, bartenders, receptionists and shopkeepers take that relaxed, "she'll be right", Kiwi attitude to a new high.

It is the holy grail of NZ tourism: easing the path to Milford Sound for domestic and international tourists without destroying its scenery, ecological value and remoteness.

A Queenstown bar that posted on Facebook CCTV images of two men they accuse of stealing and threatened to kill them say the post was meant as satire.

New Zealand Post has completed the delayed delivery of more than 18,000 pieces of mail allegedly stolen by a postie.

Two 16-year-old youths have been jointly charged with 13 offences following a series of thefts from houses and vehicles in Queenstown.

Snow stopped tourists in their tracks on the Crown Range between Wanaka and Queenstown yesterday morning.

Queenstown police are "absolutely satisfied" a young girl seen in the town on New Year's Eve is not missing British girl Madeleine McCann.