About Us -  Vacation Queenstown: practical help planning a Queenstown holiday (from locals-at-heart)

If you’re on our About us page, you’re probably doing the same thing we’ve done a hundred times: trying to turn “We’re going to Queenstown” into a plan that actually works—where to stay, what’s worth booking, what to skip, and how to fit it all into your time and budget.

Who we are (and why Queenstown)

We’re Dave, Kim, and Tim—the people behind Vacation Queenstown. We built this site to make Queenstown trip planning easier, more realistic, and less overwhelming, and we specialise in self-drive itinerary planning.

Way back in 1964, a young Kim headed over to New Zealand, from her home in Australia, to visit her aunt and uncle. They were tobacco farmers at a little village named Marahau (now the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park), at the top of the South Island, near Nelson. As a child, Kim fell in love with New Zealand, and was a regular visitor through her teenage and young adult years.

After we married and our son Tim was born, we started to visit New Zealand frequently from around 1998. Our love affair with New Zealand flourished, and we bought and sold several properties in the Nelson, Marlborough, and Southern Lakes regions.

We spent many months travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand, and as our knowledge grew, friends started asking us for help to plan their holidays.  So, we created a website "New Zealand Travel Showcase", which had a strong focus on our favourite way of seeing New Zealand - just hiring a car and heading off to explore.

In 2025, we decided to focus more on our favourite region, Queenstown and the Southern Lakes. And so, from New Zealand Travel Showcase, Vacation Queenstown evolved.

We found that there were common themes to the enquiries we were receiving:

• Where should we base ourselves?
• Is it better to stay in Queenstown or Arrowtown?
• What should we book in advance?
• What’s actually worth the money?
• How do we plan around weather, seasons, and travel times?
• Should we hire a car or campervan?
• Can you help us build our itinerary?

Vacation Queenstown is our way of putting those answers in one place—and keeping them updated.

Over the years, we've helped countless people with their Queenstown and New Zealand holiday plans, and we would love to help you.

Who we help

We help anyone visiting Queenstown for a holiday, especially:

• First-time visitors who want a solid plan without overthinking it.
• Couples and families balancing “must-do” experiences with downtime.
• Adventure-focused travellers trying to choose between similar options.
• People doing a wider South Island trip and trying to fit Queenstown in sensibly.
• Visitors with limited time who want a clear, realistic itinerary.

If you’re trying to avoid rookie mistakes (like underestimating drive times, overbooking your days, or missing the best windows for popular activities), you’re in the right place.

How we help you plan your Queenstown holiday

Our focus is practical planning help you can actually use:

• Straightforward guides to Queenstown’s best-known experiences (and what they’re like in real life).
• Suggestions for day trips and scenic drives (including what’s doable in a day).
• Help comparing options so you can book what matches your style and budget.
• Clear pointers on what typically needs booking ahead—especially in peak season.

And if you’d like a hand pulling it all together, we can also help you plan. Some visitors prefer to read a few guides and build their own itinerary; others want a second set of experienced eyes to make sure the plan is doable. Either way is fine.

Why you can trust our recommendations

We don’t try to recommend everything. We aim to recommend what we genuinely think makes sense for most visitors—and we try to be clear about the trade-offs (cost, time, weather, effort, crowds) so you can choose what’s right for you.

And because of our experience and local knowledge, we've been recognised by New Zealand's official tourism body, 100% Pure New Zealand, as an "Advanced Specialist". You can read more about our recognition here.

Our basic standard is simple:

Would we suggest this to a friend coming to Queenstown for the first time—with their specific time, budget, and interests?

When we say something is worth considering, it’s because it earned its place in a real itinerary—not because it sounds good on paper.

Our recommendations are based on our own experiences and on feedback from other travellers.

A quick note about links, partners, and how this site is funded

Some links on Vacation Queenstown are affiliate links. That means we may earn a small commission if you book through them—at no extra cost to you. We use these links to help support the site and keep the planning information available.

What doesn’t change: we still choose what we feature based on what we believe helps travellers plan a better Queenstown holiday.

Your next step

Head up to the menu at the top of the page, and start with the parts of Queenstown you’re most excited about, and build from there. Use our site to map out your stay, shortlist your activities, and plan a schedule that fits your pace. Our trip planner is a wonderful place to start, and will help you build your New Zealand self-drive itinerary.

Or, if you want help shaping your plans into a clear, workable itinerary, get in touch and tell us:

• Your travel dates and trip length.
• Who you’re travelling with.
• Your budget range (rough is fine).
• What you’re most excited about (and what you want to avoid).

We’ll point you in the right direction—and if you need hands-on planning support, we’ll tell you what we can do.

We also offer a bespoke service if you need someone to do all the hard work for you. You can read about it here.

About Us - Top of Page