Building the Future: Innovative Infrastructure in Queenstown with Ross Copland

Paddy Kluts sits down with Christina Grant, founder of New Zealand merino brand Perriam, who has just walked away from 10 years in Wanaka to put everything into Tarras and the merino shop her mother ran for more than 30 years. They talk about growing up on Bendigo Station, where her father co-founded the New Zealand Merino Company, and carrying on her mother’s legacy. Christina traces her path from a creative awakening at fashion school in Wellington, through a scholarship to the Italian wool mills and years working in London, to coming home to care for her mum, Heather, in her final months. She explains why Perriam avoids anything too trend-driven and keeps making in New Zealand when offshore would be cheaper. She also shares how her ADHD diagnosis at 47, after sitting in on her son’s assessment, made sense of years of hyperfocus and burnout, and why she’s choosing connection at home over chasing endless expansion, starting with a Tarras Village Creative Club that sold out in four minutes. A personal, open-hearted listen on merino, motherhood, and the courage to choose something different. Please note: this episode includes discussion of grief and loss. If this feels close to home, take care while listening. Support is available via 1737 (NZ), free to call or text, anytime.

Please note: this episode contains strong language and discussion of drug use. Snow Machine has grown from a small-scale first edition in Japan to a festival now pulling over 6,000 Australians to Queenstown every year. This episode was recorded live as part of Mountain Club's VIP Snow Machine event, The Ultimate Alpine Experience. This installment of the Speaker Series saw host Danny Clayton, an Australian TV and radio presenter and DJ, sit down with three people who've shaped the festival from the inside. Nick Atkins spent two decades in television news and weather before becoming a DJ. Illy is an ARIA Award-winning rapper with 15 years of touring behind him, and one of the headline acts at Snow Machine 2026. Pat Stevenson is the photographer who has shot every one of Snow Machine's ten editions, along with 18 straight years at Splendour in the Grass. Together they trace the festival back to its first, nearly-cancelled edition in March 2020, unpack why Snow Machine keeps growing while other festivals fold, and debate AI's place in an industry built on live experience. An iconic lineup on an iconic stage, talking festivals, artistry, and what makes Snow Machine last. A hilarious insider listen on live music, festival culture, and the Snow Machine story, from the artists who are at the centre of it all.

A very special 50th episode of the Mountain Club Podcast. Pete Fullerton-Smith, CEO, and Paddy Kluts, Co-Owner and Membership Manager of Mountain Club, sit down to reflect on the almost two years since they recorded the very first, origins episode, and everything Mountain Club has achieved since: the growth, the events, the connections, and the experiences. Pete and Paddy talk through the Mountain Club ecosystem and the flywheel effect, the compounding network of connections that has helped drive membership to nearly double since that first conversation, from sold-out signature experiences like NZFW and Snow Machine: The Ultimate Alpine Experience, a full weekly wellness schedule to member-led events and business introductions playing out across Queenstown, Australia and globally. They also introduce the excitement building around Summit, Mountain Club's newest offering connecting high-net-worth individuals relocating to New Zealand, and what it means for the next wave of growth. A celebratory listen on legacy, growth, and the future of Mountain Club with the people who built it.

Paddy sits down with Nigel Hobbs, Managing Director of Tourism Innovation Group (TIG), for a conversation on betting on wellness tourism, scaling a group of touring brands, and stepping into his own era of Queenstown tourism. Nigel reflects on the mentors who've shaped his career, and talks through the old guard and the new guard. Why he now sees his generation as the ones taking control of what comes next for the region, building on what the old guard set up. He explains why TIG's brands, Altitude Tours, Black, and Fiordland Tours, have always been about the journey rather than the place, and why his newest venture Tussock Ridge is different: an outdoor hot pool destination cantilevered off a hillside above Lake Johnson, each pool private enough to see the stars and the lights of Coronet Peak. Nigel believes it could be one of the best hot pool locations anywhere in the world, opening at the start of next winter. A well worth while listen on legacy, wellness tourism, and building for the long game in Queenstown.

Paddy sits down with Roger Sharp, founder and chair of Technology Queenstown and former chair of Webjet, who watched Queenstown's tourism-dependent economy buckle under COVID and decided a one-industry town wasn't good enough anymore. Roger explains how he convinced a university to launch a tech campus in Queenstown, why he bet on tourism itself as the way into a travel tech ecosystem, and what it actually took to bring the global WIT conference here and fill Memorial Hall with some of the world's most famous CEOs from Agoda, Air New Zealand, Expedia, and more. He shares the tangible momentum already building off the back of it, from new AI platforms choosing to pilot in Queenstown to the investors now paying attention, and what the next decade of jobs, investment, and infrastructure could look like if the plan works. An exciting, forward-looking listen on tech, tourism, and the future of Queenstown's economy.