Queenstown

Sister cities

• Bariloche
• Masuda
• Aspen

History

The area was discovered and first settled by Māori. Kāi Tahu say that the lake was dug by the Waitaha ancestor, Rākaihautū, with his kō (digging stick) named Tūwhakaroria. After arriving at Whakatū Nelson in the waka Uruao, Rākaihautū divided his crew into two. He led one group through the interior of Te Waipounamu, digging the freshwater lakes of the island. After digging the lakes Hāwea, Wānaka, and Whakatipu Waimāori, he travelled through the Greenstone and Hollyford valleys before finally digging Whakatipu Waitai (Lake McKerrow). The first non-Māori to see Lake Wakatipu was European Nathanael Chalmers who was guided by Reko, the chief of the Tuturau, over the Waimea Plains and up the Mataura River in September 1853. Evidence of stake nets, baskets for catching eels, spears and ashes indicated the Glenorchy area was visited by Māori. It is likely Ngāi Tahu Māori visited Queenstown en route to collect Pounamu (greenstone). The tribe of Kāti Māmoe occupied a settlement called Te Kirikiri Pa where the Queenstown Gardens are today, but by the time European migrants arrived in the 1860s this settlement was no longer being used. European explorers William Gilbert Rees and Nicholas von Tunzelmann were the first non-Māori to settle the area. In 1860, Rees established a high country farm where Queenstown's town centre now stands, but the discovery of gold in the Arrow River in 1862 encouraged him to convert his wool shed into a hotel named the Queen's Arms, now known as Eichardt's. Ben Lomond Station itself was first leased by P.B. Boult in 1864 at approximately 10,000 acres. By 1903 the station had grown to 32,000 acres. In 1930, William Price McDonald took over the lease from the crown and the family held the property for the following two decades. Many Queenstown…

Geography

Queenstown is on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand's third-largest lake by surface area. The town is close to the lake's northeastern bend, at which point a small arm, the Frankton Arm, joins the lake with its principal outflow, the Kawarau River. The centre of the town is on the north shore at the point where the Frankton Arm links with the main body of the lake, but also extends to the major suburb of Frankton at the eastern end of the arm, and across to Kelvin Heights on the Kelvin Peninsula, which forms the Frankton Arm's southern shore. The town is at a relatively low altitude for a ski and snowboarding centre, at above sea level at the lake shore, but is nestled among mountains, most notably the scenic attraction of The Remarkables, to the town's southeast. Below the lake lies the deep Kawarau Gorge, and there are nearby plains suitable for agriculture and viticulture. Queenstown lies close to the heart of the Central Otago wine region. Central Queenstown contains many businesses, apartments and homes but is near many suburbs or large areas of housing: Fernhill, Sunshine Bay, Queenstown Hill, Goldfield Heights, Marina Heights, Kelvin Heights, Arthurs Point and Frankton. Just outside Queenstown are the areas of: Arrowtown, Closeburn, Dalefield, Gibbston, Jack's Point, Hanley's Farm, Hayes Creek, Lake Hayes Estate, Shotover Country and Quail Rise. Because of its relatively moderate altitude (310 metres) and high mountain surroundings, Queenstown has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb). Summer has long warm days with temperatures that can reach 30 °C while winters are cold with temperatures often in single digits and frequent snowfall, although there is no permanent snow cover during the year. As with the rest of Central Otago,…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,588
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,379
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,913
• New Zealand Scaup

  Aythya novaeseelandiae (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  1,821
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,639
• Silver-eye

  Zosterops lateralis (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,630
• Dunnock

  Prunella modularis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,521
• Paradise Shelduck

  Tadorna variegata (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  1,468

Most recent

• M 3.9 — 2026-04-15
  36 km NE of Wanaka, New Zealand
• M 4.2 — 2026-02-27
  38 km NNW of Te Anau, New Zealand
• M 4.3 — 2025-09-07
  57 km NNW of Te Anau, New Zealand
• M 4.2 — 2025-02-28
  60 km N of Te Anau, New Zealand
• M 4.2 — 2025-02-05
  57 km NNW of Te Anau, New Zealand
• M 4.1 — 2024-10-13
  79 km NNW of Arthurs Point, New Zealand