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What makes a place special? Well, we know the natural beauty of this magnificent place we call home makes it extraordinary – regardless of how long you have been here, whether a long-time local or just arrived, without a doubt every day you will stand in awe of the landscape, of the mountains and the lakes and therefore to complement that, what makes this place special is the people, our community, our family and friends and our visitors. While Queenstown boasts dozens of fancy hotels, a huge variety of world class attractions, and sees millions of visitors every year, our community is relatively small, our town is a village and our people are interconnected. We want to share and extend that connection to our visitors, offering a glimpse into life here, a pathway to create meaningful connections and an opportunity to discover the true essence of this wondrous place.
Thanks to our deep reaching connections, we are proud to be able to offer a number of very unique experiences for those wanting to connect with the people that make our home so special. We introduce some of our people and local experiences below but you are only limited by your imagination! Get in touch with our concierge today to craft your once in a lifetime memorable experience.
Connect with our Maori Community
Like our global community here in Queenstown, our Maori community comes from all over New Zealand and we unite as whanau and with a common passion for sharing our culture, our stories and our craft. Whilst we may not have many bookable cultural product at present, our people offer all sorts of experiences – head out on a wine tour with Lance, or enjoy local craft beer experience with Lewis and we create opportunity to connect and offer experience – join the local Waka Ama club for a paddle on Lake Wakatipu, take a lakeside stroll walk with Darren who will share living Maori stories and historical myths and legends, share stories with Jeremy that leads to the creation and design of a stone carving, or spend the afternoon with Tama who will share his tattoo and Ta Moko craft or connect with Cory who can introduce you to our local Waiata group, or join him on the recreation ground for Mau Rakau training and so much more.
Participate in Community Projects
Enjoy Queenstown, discovery what really matters to our people and community and feel enriched by leaving it a little bit better than it was when you arrived. It could be as simple as planting a tree to restore native rainforest or remove devastating wilding pines so natives can thrive, pack new born baby gift boxes, an initiative that supports all new born babies in the area or collecting leftover food from local supermarkets to be redistributed to the local community or learn about sustainable initiatives that spotlight and promote positive action. All along the journey you’ll meet others striving to make a change for the good and whether you wish to participate, contribute or gain insight, we can connect you to purposeful experience here in Queenstown.
Share in Local Experience
A change encounter with a local person who provided you with local tips or recommendation, can often be a catalyst to changing your entire experience – that is certainly our travel experience and therefore we wanted to create an opportunity to facilitate connections with our people, to add value to each other’s lives and that opportunity exists through local experiences – whether you’re connecting with a similar family group for dinner, or attending a local pub quiz or diving into the creative community where in quiet residential street are some of Queenstown’s most talented residents who are doing their own thing, staying true to themselves and welcoming locals and visitors into their space to share, create and connect. We can connect you with a local jeweller artist Jess for a one on one workshop or get your friends together and make an event of it, discover a local gallery not usually open to the public, and even dine at the home of a local couple, Meg & Declan, who are eager to entertain and share their stories and why not head out on the river with Ayato to learn how to fish.
Looking for personalised help with your Check In experience? Do you want to surprise someone with a unique and tailored service? Are you looking for local insight and want to hear a friendly voice? Send us a message – tell us a little about you and what we can help with and we’ll connect you with one of our beautiful human’s.