Dear Jim and Alan

Thank you for buying us the funky cinema in Wanaka as a wedding present. It was a really fun way to watch a movie. Cinema Paradiso is a unique cinema experience. The theatre is made up of a jumble of sofas, old reclining chairs, a converted VW Beetle and other assortments of things to sit down on, all of which lend themselves to a more relaxed, enjoyable cinema experience. Added to this, it is the sort of place that actively encouraged the purchase of wine, beer, hot meals, pizza and generally anything else you could possibly want. They introduce an intermission halfway through so that you do not have to miss a moment of the movie if you need to use the bathroom or order another bottle of wine.

We had the pick of two movies; either the latest Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Reverend. An epic tale about a cowboy or something that everybody says is brilliant. Or a comedy called 'Dirty Grandpa' which is a title which doesn't really inspire confidence. To the horror of the girl selling us the ticket and to anyone who has ever seen or heard of either of these movies, we decided to base our pick on film length rather than any other perceived merits of the film. As The Reverend comes in at are rather arse-numbing three hours, we decided to watch an hour and a half of a very unfunny comedy about an old man trying to have sex with a young woman. It was a shame because our movie pick was done before we got to chose the two most comfortable reclining chairs in the whole wide world which could have made Leo being miserable for one hundred and eighty minute entirely bearable.

And so we have been spending three days in Wanaka, a smaller more relaxed version of Queenstown, which is just enough time to come up with this rubbish joke: I bet all those hitchhikers we just passed wanaka (want-a-car). Geddit? No. Well anyway, I think it was three days well spent.

We also teamed up with old friends Laura and Jeremy to play what can only be considered the longest game of crazy golf in history. The combination of four people who are not very good at crazy golf combined with a very long and difficult course meant we were close to two hours out in the heat and sunshine. Value for money I say. Too long I'm bored Donna says. Which just goes to show who won.

The crazy golf course was at a place called 'Have a shot' because it also included a shooting range. Very clever. I had to let Jeremy beat me so he didn't feel so bad about losing the crazy golf.

We also partook in a new concept called 'Donna Day'. Apparently, I can be a bit domineering when it comes to picking what we do every day so it seemed only fair to let Donna plan an entire day by herself. This involved getting up when she was ready to get up and not when I say, going to a few art galleries and then visiting some salons to find out how much it would cost her to get her hair highlighted.

We haven't decided yet when the next Donna Day will be.

Lots of love

Jim and Donna

INTERESTING KIWI FACT OF THE DAY

Dirty Grandpa is a movie currently being shown in the cinema in New Zealand. It stars Robert De Niro and Zac Efron as a grandfather and grandson duo who go on a road trip so that the wild and crazy grandpa can show his grandson that he is making a mistake marrying his uptight wife and he should go out with the attractive girl from his photography class instead. I won't spoil the ending in case you were thinking of going to see it. It isn't very funny and lacks any memorable moments and is unlikely to win any oscars.