Last week's news headlines had a major roading theme to them, and even if you hadn't read them, most of us surely would have seen a few of these construction projects underway. There were budget blowouts, roadworks and delays galore, and the stand of a lone councillor. In other news, there was a reminder about early bird passes closing soon, and a few dedicated souls got soaked while preparing for next weekend's frisbee golf tournaments.

This time last year, a few volunteers whisked off up to Paradise Valley, just north of Glenorchy, to prepare the frisbee golf course for the upcoming tournament. They were greeted by clear skies with lots of sunshine, and the odd sandfly. This year was different. It rained all day, we all got soaked, and we couldn't wait to get home and into a hot shower. But regardless of the weather, the course is all prepared for next weekend's Dart River Safaris Paradise Plates frisbee golf tournament, and boy, I can't wait!

Queenstown is well renowned in the frisbee golf world. We have one of the most scenic courses in the world, located in the spectacular Queenstown Gardens. But one of the true wonders in regards to courses, is the elusive course that has it's home among the rolling hills and native forest at the Paradise Trust property. One must point out that this course can only be played at this time of year, adding greatly to the mystique that is already heaped onto this course. It definitely is a must-do for those avid frisbee golfers that call this region home.

Onto another subject, the region is also home to things that happen in most other towns and cities, that being the occasional budget blowout and the political scuffles that it brings about. There are two that are truly deserved of attention, and they are the extra $1 million needed for the Crown Range Rd and the lone councillor that spoke out, and the extra $200,000 needed for Queenstown's Aquatic Centre.

"A combination of information gaps and a vast increase in scope has seen one of the three upgrade elements, namely the Crown Range realignment and rehabilitation budget, climb from $2.8 million to $3.8 million," Mr Kunath said.

That's a quote from the press release the the QLDC sent us, but unfortunately, there was no correspondence about the councillor who objected, so here's a quote from Stuff.co.nz instead:

At a full meeting of the district council yesterday, Cr Vanessa van Uden questioned the $1 million a kilometre price tag for sealing 3.64km of the Royal Burn to Glencoe section of the road. A few years ago 18km of the same road was sealed for only $4.1 million she said.

And seeing as I'm so quote happy today, here's another one in regards to another budget blowout on the Aquatic Centre, also from Stuff.co.nz:

Mr Gousmett told the council that the final project cost was expected to be $283,000 or 1.9 percent over budget. This is in addition to $200,000 that had been allocated for unforseen costs.

To finish off my roading spiel on a positive, the Camp St upgrades are progressing ahead of schedule, the Glenorchy Road reconstruction near Blanket Bay is coming along nicely, and the long overdue Robins Rd realignment is officially underway as the picture below illustrates.

Nzski.com have also announced that the earlybird season passes close at midnight on the 5th of March. So those of you that haven't already, this is your last chance to pick up a resonably priced pass before the rates go through the roof.

That's it from me, so until next week, exercise patience wherever possible on the roads while we get this years fixes out of the way,

Nathan - Queenstown.com Editor.