Sunshine Bay is an inlet of Lake Wakatipu and suburb of Queenstown in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

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. 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

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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 Otago Regional Council (ORC) is the regional council for Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. The council's principal office is Regional House on Stafford Street in Dunedin with 250-275 staff, with smaller offices in Queenstown and Alexand ...

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.

Demographics

Sunshine Bay-Fernhill covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Before the 2023 census, Sunshine Bay-Fernhill had a smaller boundary, covering . Using that boundary, Sunshine Bay-Fernhill had a population of 2,931 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 573 people (24.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 675 people (29.9%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 861 households, comprising 1,566 males and 1,365 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.15 males per female. The median age was 29.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 294 people (10.0%) aged under 15 years, 1,221 (41.7%) aged 15 to 29, 1,332 (45.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 84 (2.9%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 72.6% European/

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

, 5.6%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, 1.1%

Pasifika Pasifika may refer to: *Pacific Islander people, indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands **Pasifika New Zealanders, Pacific peoples living in New Zealand *Pacific islands, including Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia *The Pasifika Festival, an an ...

, 16.0%

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, and 10.5% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 62.8, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 64.5% had no religion, 23.6% were

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, 0.2% had Māori religious beliefs, 2.9% were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 0.8% were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 0.8% were

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and 3.4% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 681 (25.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 120 (4.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $37,600, compared with $31,800 nationally. 246 people (9.3%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,094 (79.4%) people were employed full-time, 240 (9.1%) were part-time, and 48 (1.8%) were unemployed.

References

{{Queenstown-Lakes Suburbs of Queenstown, New Zealand Bays of Otago Populated places on Lake Wakatipu