Sunshine Bay facts for kids

Sunshine Bay is an inlet of Lake Wakatipu and suburb of Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on the lower slopes of the Ben Lomond mountain, west of Fernhill, on the northern side of the lake.

It is only accessible by a single road from the main Queenstown township, which was completely blocked off by a single car crash in October 2020.

Many homes in the suburb were rented out to tourists or tourism workers, until the COVID-19 pandemic led to an end to international tourism. Patronage on the public bus service between Arrowtown and Sunshine Bay, which was popular with tourists, also dropped off during the pandemic.

In August 2020, a developer sought permission from Otago Regional Council to rezone five hectares of land to develop 200 new residential units at Sunshine Bay.

Later that same month, several on-street carparks were removed from Arawata Terrace, after a bus became stuck due to cars parked on both sides.

In December 2020, a ban on drinking on Queenstown Beach led to more public drinking at the Sunshine Bay beach.