I woke up to another glorious day which felt a bit ironic as I was watching the morning news and saw Brisbane was getting record rains and flooding. Today is the first of many roadtrips. I stopped at arrowtown for a light breakfast at the provisions cafe and had one of their famous sticky buns and coffee - rolled brioche with currants, almonds and caramel sauce! There is a great fruit stall just down the road and I got a traveller pack of fruit made up of peaches, plums, different kinds of apricots and white and dark cherries all for NZD7 for my days on the road.

First stop was in the gibbston valley at peregrine winery. The winery is in a gorgeous building that blends with the landscape and looks like an eagle wing. Their wine was beautiful and they had no extra charges for tax or shipping so I sent a dozen bottles home. I will return to the gibbston winery on the way home.

Once you pass through the gibbston valley you are into central otago proper, there are massive blue lakes, rocky barren hills and flat fertile valley plains where they grow grapes and stone fruit. There was gold in the rivers and hills and all this area was the scene of a gold rush back in the day. There are ruins of deserted mining equipment and huts, and there are scars still left on the landscape. The grapes love the soil and sun and there are really good pinot noirs, aramatics and roses coming out of this area.

I drive to my furtherest point, the tiny town of Clyde, old mining and historic town, very quaint and sleepy. I return to bannockburn for lunch at mt difficulty winery. I am lucky to get a table as the restaurant is fully booked, but someone cancels while I am there and problem solved. I have venison loin on smoked beetroot purée, feta, broad beans, rocket and potatoes.

Then I continued to carrick winery, also in the bannockburn hills, in a huge modern barn with large plantings of lavendar. Their wines were fantastic, they have a stockist in Australia so there are no post home deals, otherwise I would have bought some. I did purchase a Pinot Gris to take home with me. Then I drove past Cromwell to northburn station, a rustic shed where I had some dessert, frozen chocolate mousse with berries. All the wineries are at capacity, it seems like everyone is taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

One last winery stop on the way home was gibbston valley wines - really nice wines actually, and contemplated sending an order back but their shipping at $99 made the wines not quite as good a deal as peregrine, and their prices were higher. I did buy a porcini powder rub that will do good things to mushroom risottos.

Back to queenstown, it had been a big day on the road so I had a late nap. I have started reading a book, underbelly razor, which complements the tv series and is about the criminals and law enforcers and life in general in the 1920s and 1930s - it has been really interesting. I head out for a late dinner and try a new restaurant called no 5 - it's a cocktail bar but has mod Thai food in a contemporary setting - I order beef cheeks and beans in Penang sauce.