Hanna arrived in NZ on Friday 19^th July to a very warm welcome at the airport. It has taken her all week to get over her jet lag.  Hanna attended her 1^st Rotary meeting on the 23^rd and was given a special Maori welcome by Fellow Darren Rewi and President Ross.

Hanna is 17 years old and will attend Wakatipu High School, starting on Tuesday 30^th July.  She comes from Nynashamn, Sweden and is sponsored by the Nynashamn Rotary Club.  Nynashamn is 60km south of Stockholm and has a population of around 14,000 people.

Hanna loves to dance and is part of a dance group which has a mixed range of styles and is also a cheerleader.  She also loves horseback riding and animals of all shapes and sizes.  At the age of 10, Hanna played violin as the final solo act at a concert to a stunned audience.  She also consistently attains top level grades at school and receives special grants and recognition awards. 

Hanna is looking forward to her year in Queenstown and the big adventure that it holds.

Huia was inducted into Queenstown Rotary last week. Huia hails from Tauranga. Last year she completed her tertiary education with two degrees at Otago University - a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Environmental Science and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Economics.

Huia attended Tauranga Girls’ College where she was involved in several sports including rowing, triathlons, swimming and water polo and became the TGC’s Sport’s Captain. Huia excelled in Rowing whilst at school and continued whilst studying at Otago University. She was a member of the Otago Women’s Eight that won the Eights title at the 2017 International Universities Rowing Regatta in China beating teams from top world universities.

Huia is working at QLDC as a ‘Monitoring & Enforcement Officer’ and we are delighted to have her join us at Queenstown Rotary.

Sunday 23 June saw our annual ‘Duck Race’ held on Horne Creek with proceeds this year to ‘LDart’ (Lakes District Air Rescue Trust) to help fund our new Queenstown based dedicated rescue helicopter.

A fine sunny winter’s afternoon realised a good following from the public and the support and attendance of many club members.

Congratulations go to this year’s prize winners:

1st - Public Bar and Kitchen (down on the Steamer Wharf).

2nd - Canyon Swing

3rd - Crombie Lockwood (insurance brokers)

The ‘Best Dressed Duck’ was the Craigs Investment Partners entry - ‘Boris Johnson’ (of the English Parliament)

Small ducks (public sales) were eagerly followed down the creek by kids of all ages to the finish line at creek's entry to Lake Wakatipu.  This year's winners were Fiona and Tim, a visiting couple from Brisbane, who generously re-donated their prize (a Shotover Jet Ride for 2) back to our Club to be auctioned off as a further fundraiser.

Total funds raised will be close to $8,000.

A huge thanks to all of our corporate sponsors, our wonderful locals and tourists alike, and to our Rotarians who assisted.  A special thanks to the people of Mitchell Mackersy Lawyers for their hard work in again managing duck sales.

Our Sponsors:

A Womans Touch Cleaning Services, Anderson Lloyd, Aotea Souvenirs, Bennie Boys, Body Sanctum, Brandland, Brazz (also In-kind sponsor – prizegiving venue & snacks), Canyon Swing (also Prize Sponsor), Central Dry Cleaning, Colliers, Craigs Investment Partners, Crang Civil, Crombie Lockwood, Dart River Adventures (also Prize Sponsor), Designa Tiles, Five Peaks Accounting, Heritage Queenstown, KJet (also Prize Sponsor ), Lindsey Topp, M Developments, MacTodd, Markhams, Max Raft, Millbrook (also Prize Sponsor), Mitchell Mackersy, Pak’N Save, Provisions, Public Kitchen (also Prize Sponsor), QAC, Queenstown Print, (also In-kind sponsor – design & print), Rilean Construction, Scenic Circle Hotel, Shotover Engineering, Shotover Jet, Strongbox Wealth Management, TravelSmart  Treecare Southern Lakes, VetEnt Frankton, Wikki Wikki, Woodlot Properties.