"It’s a really exciting project that’s going to make a huge and very positive difference to the downtown experience,"
- Queenstown Lakes District Council utilities general manager Mark Kunath

"It's common practice to have the site marked out whether it's in the CBD or out of town. This is just silly. I don't really understand it at all."
- Queenstown Lakes District Council Councillor Rick Pettit

Well, last week was certainly an interesting one. We saw an ugly brawl erupt at the soccer, someone almost lost their life when the power cable in the CBD was cut after the council forced Delta to remove their 'graffiti' from the footpath, and the team here at Queenstown.com upgraded a few things and continued to work on our redesign.

As most of you would have noticed, we finally got some snow last week, and although it's almost gone already, it was a timely reminder that the ski season is just around the corner. Those of you that have sandwich boards will be aware of QLDC and CivicCorp's mini-crusade against these, but on a positive note, kerbside recycling may get underway this decade and we'll keep you posted on that as well. And the joke of the week tackles Paris Hilton's jail visit next month!

Last week in the council chambers, Cr John Wilson raised the question of whether or not it would be feasible to explore a new bio-diesel innovation being investigated in Blenheim by the Marlborough District Council. I'll talk about that briefly as well as the so-called affordable housing scheme that has been making news lately. And the countdown to winter has started with Coronet Peak scheduled to open in just over a month, so enjoy the quieter conditions while you still can.

Autumn is by far the most colourful season here in Queenstown, and that's evidenced by the assortment of trees that rid there summer coat in a blaze of colour. It's not just the falling leaves that are celebrated, it's also community spirit, and that's seen with events like Arrowtown's Autumn Festival, and Wanaka's Festival of Colour, drawing to a close. Add to that the long still days make perfect frisbee golf conditions, as we almost glide through the quiet months as winter approaches.

This Wednesday marks the 92nd anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli in 1915. For those of you looking to take part in the ANZAC Day citizens service, you can find more details inside this weeks edition. For readers of The Mirror, you may have read the article about Mayor Clive Geddes announcement regarding his intentions to seek re-election for a third term in November. The article goes on to mention some of the issues that he'd like to see resolved if successful in gaining re-election, but are they just trivial and are the major problems still being overlooked?