Hi, please avoid this massage parlor at all cost! It’s the size of a small bedroom in the hair parlor by Crown Plaza. The room was so tiny and stuffy and HOT. The window was open to let air flow in but that meant all I heard during my massage was cars skidding by when I’m supposed to be relaxing.

The massage was also the worst I’ve ever had. The lady gave no pressure at the beginning and did nothing but rub my back in circles. Then, when I ask her to increase the pressure a little bit, she turned into the Hulk and the rest was so unbearable. Plus, she didn’t even do the same massages on both sides. It’s $80 I’ll never get back unfortunately.

Anywhere in the Queenstown cbd showing the Superbowl other than locker room?

Looking for a room in Queenstown

Hi everyone! My friend and I are looking for a room to rent near Queenstown center, preferably within walking distance. Our budget is $400 per week max for both of us.

We are two quiet and respectful backpackers who spend most of our time exploring and working, so we won’t be home very often. We’re clean, responsible, and easygoing, always happy to share a chat but also respectful of personal space.

If you know of anything available, please let us know. We’d love to find a cozy place to stay!

Thanks in advance!

Hey Queenstown Team!

Just wondering if there is anyone in here that has moved from Australia to NZ and taken a dog with them? Would you mind letting me know your experience and the cost/who you went with/would you recommend them? Bonus if it’s within the last few years.

For a bit of context, I lived in Queenstown from 2016-2023 - moved back to Aus late ‘23 and I think I want to go back to NZ. Wild, I know. Most people are doing the exact opposite! But the South Island is the only place that has ever felt like home for me, and the only place I built a solid community and was surrounded by like minded people. Being back in Aus is slowly breaking my soul bit by bit. Dramatic, yes. But honestly true.

Biggest issue is: I now have a dog. And am just unsure what that would look like getting him over there. He’s very healthy, coming up on 2 years old and a total legend. I promised him I would never leave him behind, so I can’t break that.

I’m completely aware of the rental situation and how having a dog is a fucking nightmare - but it’s also a nightmare here in Australia. And if I’m going to battle through life, I’d rather be doing it there surrounded by people I know and have connections and support, and a wicked work/life balance.

Thanks for reading :)

Hi all

As the title states.

Couple of things im anxious about.

#1 which im sure is relatable to most of you is finding a rental place - but i also need to find one that will let me have my dog. Either a 1, 2, or 3 bedroom place. Will likely have a friend move in with me if i find somewhere with more than 1 bedroom. Preferably fully fenced. I know. I dont ask for much.

#2 any recommendations for boarding kennels where i can keep her safely until i get settled in and find a place

#3 any recommendations for storage lock ups where i can keep my stuff until i get settled in and find a place

Any other helpful advice appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

Hi everyone,

I'm planning a trip to Queenstown in early April, and I'm planning some activities around the Lake Tekapo area. Currently, I plan to drive back to Queenstown leaving at 10:30pm, and as far as I know it's a 3.5ish hour drive.

My question was if this drive is safe, or can it get a bit much and harder to navigate at night. I'm not sure what frost conditions would be like in the first week of April, and if the road from Tekapo to Queenstown is good to travel at night.

I will be enjoying the scenery on the drive over since we plan on getting there by 10 am, so that is not as much of a concern, just thinking about the safety aspect of it.

Thanks!

Has anyone found a New Zealand passport in the last 2 days in town, last time i had it was wednesday night at Bungalow..

Hi everyone! My 5 girl friends and I (all American) are celebrating our 25th birthdays in NZ and AUS at the end of November. We love to party and wanted to get some recs on what the best areas/places to go out are! Also if you have any restaurant recommendations we love to go for dinner and drinks. Thank you!

Hello!

I was curious about the current situation in Queenstown regarding work, housing, and social life for those seeking to spend a working holiday in the area. I am a 26 year old American and work as a mountain guide and a stage rigger in the live music industry. I would be hoping to start my stint in NZ around October-November of 2025 and would love to stay for a full year.

I am interested in Queenstown for its access to great rock and ice climbing. Is it difficult to find climbing partners in the area? How is the social scene generally for young, active people?

What kind of work would I be able to find in the area? I am open to anything really but it would be great to do work related to the fields I already work in. I also have a level 1 IRATA rope access certificate if that helps.

Finally, housing. I come from a "touristy" mountain town in the US and am familiar with the scourge of AirBnB and speculative real estate investment. What forms of housing would be available for someone looking for a furnished space, with or without roommates?

Thanks everyone!

Can you pls suggest locations for a free photoshoot in Queenstown and surrounding areas. Preferably not more than 20mins drive.

It’s for a pre-wedding photoshoot.

Thank youuu

Avid runner, I’m moving from Jacks Point to Fernhill next month and just trying to find new routes to run around my future neighbourhood (but don’t want to pay Strava subscription).

Ideally 10k loops but open to anything (I know the hills are going to kill me)

I decided I needed a bit of a dance to some hot beats and found that Carl Cox is playing at Ayrburn Vineyard on the 16th of February.

I'm not really sure what to expect. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I booked the after party as well but the organizers won't be letting us know the venue until the day. Any ideas where the after party could possibly be?

I don't feel like driving around too much lol

I will be driving tho and I am planning on staying in the area, but not sure where is best. Queenstown, Arrowtown or somewhere in between?

Thanks for your comment in advance 😊

Hi

My partner and I are going to Queenstown this coming March for a friend’s wedding. So we’re taking the opportunity to have our pre wedding photoshoot while we’re there.

Thinking of booking sweetescape for the photo session which has an ok rate.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for photography that is less than 1k aud?

And also where can I hire a wedding gown for a cheap price as well?

Thank you in advance!

Australian from Sydney been in QT for a few days and need some local knowledge.

1. Wheres a good place to get a feed of the famous NZ mussels (the seafood kind)? Preferably somewhere not catering to the rich tourist.

2. Wheres all the money come from? The price of realestate in alot of areas seems quite high, in arrow town lots of properties priced at $2.5-$3.5 mill, jacks point small town house $1 mill and multi bedroom family style homes up to $2 mil. Even Cromwell seems to have heaps of money being invested in property.

The price of property added with the high cost of eating out and entertainment, seems like a playground for the rich.

Is this expats buying all these things or does the south island have a large upper class?

When going up Coronet peak, to get up the very top just to have a look, is there a pass just for spectator ? I don’t want to ski but would like to go up

We are going to queenstown for a weekend end of May for a midyear work do.all aged 35 years and younger to 18years old,some With partners aswell.we are from wellington and just want some more activities to do more than drinking at a pub.

Cheers

My daughter has been talking about fish and chips ever since we booked our trip to NZ. We’ve been on the north island for almost a week and tomorrow we’re headed down to Queenstown. We heard you guys have really good fish and chips there and I just want her to be happy! Thanks in advance 😊

What’s the go with the free campsites that have toilets there but say your vehicle needs to be self contained? Can you stay at these campsites with no toilet on your van?

What do Queenstown locals do for work? All I’ve seen is expats working.

Hey so we driving to Queenstown to fly to Aussie, and wondering what the best options are for leaving car somewhere and getting to airport.

There's $30 a day to leave car at airport, then $7 a day to leave it further from airport. Are there any spots around Qtown to safely leave car for over a week free of charge? Then just Uber to airport?

Cheers.

Hi. I am flying into Queenstown in late February. Plane is scheduled to arrive from Australia at 9:10if on time. We will have checked luggage. So between possibly being late, de-boarding, getting luggage, getting through customs, I think it's highly unlikely we will be able to be at the car rental counters by 9:30pm. Yet that seems to be when most or all of them close (all the ones I have checked so far).

What do people do to pick up their cars after this time? Seems like if they have flights coming in this late there should be a way to get a car.

We had hoped to be using the car pre-dawn the next day to be driving toward Milford Sound, so ideally we're not out of luck and going to need to be Uber'ing to our hotel and back the next day.

Thanks for any tips.

NOTE: i should add this will be a one way rental that has to be returned eventually at the Christchurch Airport. So has to be a company in both locations.

Honestly don’t think she’s in this group but Laura from Iowa who I was talking to at Bardeaux for 2 hours last night would love to get your Insta or number. Don’t know how I let that slip through my fingers.

Question: what happened to all those trees near the Skyline cable car?

Were they deliberately torn down to make space for a bike trail? Or was it land slippage?

SHITPOST

So I’m a canyoning guide at a reputable company here in Queenstown, fully certified and 5 star rated on trip advisor.

I had two ladies on one of our trip today and had to send one back, but the other ultimately left too.

To preface, we state multiple times on our website, when you join, and when you sign the waivers that you are active and moderately fit. While this trip was for “beginners” you still need to know what canyoning entails and be up for it. If you’re up for it, moderate fitness will get you through.

It was apparent early that one of these ladies wasn’t up for it. We were walking up the river just to get to the start of the actual trip and this one lady was incredibly slow navigating up the river and consistently trailing the rest of the group. I made a few jokes about having to be up for it, basically to give them an out if they realised they had perhaps bitten off more than they could chew but she dismissed my comments, and I could see her friend glaring at me so I left it.

But things just got worse, as we continued up the river, the rocks got a bit bigger (more like boulders) and there was a bit of clambering to do. The rest of the group was fine just rock hopping, but this one lady slowed down even more and at one point was on all fours, and I shit you not, crawling over some of these rocks. The rest of the group had to wait for this lady to catch up and I was getting comments like “going to be a long day huh” and “looks like she’s doing it pretty tough”. When she caught up I decided to pull it and say that I didn’t think she was upto it, given that this was just the walk to the start and she was already struggling. It’s a shit conversation to have but it had to be had to make sure the rest of the group had a good time. The lady took it pretty well and I think she knew herself, but her friend..

Her friend had an absolute fit at me and just started going on about how we had advertised it as a beginners trip for canyoning and only moderate fitness was needed. The slow lady insisted it was fine and that she could just wait in the car but her friend blew up deluxe and said that if she was leaving, they both were.

I get back to the office after the rest of the trip (which went fantastic with the group having a great time) and found out that the friend had blown up at our person on the front desk too. Said she was going to post bad reviews online and tell everyone she knows how scummy our company is. It was a wild reaction for what I thought was an obvious decision (to turn the slow lady back) given that we had essentially watched Sméagol climbing through the boulders at half pace.

AITA?

Hey guys! Im arriving tonight to Queenstown and will spend the next 8 days, I would like to do a multi-day hiking and sleeping in refugees if it is possible. Do you have any recommendation? I appreciate the help, enjoy your day!

Hi guys, myself and my gf just got back to the UK from a trip to the south island and whilst we were out there my gf saw a sweatshirt she absolutely loved and wanted really badly but we didn't have the chance to grab it in time before we left as we thought we'd have time to go back but ended up running late.

I REALLY wanted to get her it as a suprise gift for her bday (end of Feb) but they don't sell them online, only in the RealNZ stores in Queenstown and Te Anau as far as I know.

Is ANYONE either heading to the UK soon or willing to post a sweatshirt (fully compensated obviously). It would be so awesome to get it for her but it seems you can only get it in those stores.

If anyone is keen please send me a DM! I appreciate Reddit is an anonymous platform so I'd obvs ask you to prove you're a real person etc and I'd do the same :)

Thanks!