It was raining when we woke up in Te Anau and once again Gary reminded me what an inspired idea it had been to get a motel room and not to camp. I agreed, again!

We had a delicious brunch at the Fat Duck and I drove in the rain to Queenstown. The novelty of lakes and mountains was starting to wain.

We arrived in a sunny Queenstown and headed through town, which was very busy, to our accommodation on Lake Esplanade via a coffee stop and isite visit to grab some brochures. Back in the UK we had spent some time selecting this location for its light airy room with a balcony overlooking the lake and mountains. We'd booked online and paid a little more to get something nice for our last few days in NZ together. We were given a warm welcome but told that there were no balconies available and were shown to a grim, dark, ground floor room with a view of the car parked outside the window in a building adjacent to that which we had booked. It was a heart sinking moment. Long story short: chat with owners, go to isite, go to new accommodation to check quality ok (the apartments at the Glebe are amazing!), go back to original place to say we are moving, stop short of physical fight with v aggressive owner, leave with high blood pressure, rant, go to new place, rant, get ready, go out into town.

We deserved a drink to help put the universe back on our side so we went to Pōg Mahones for outdoor drinks in the sun. We were both amused to watch a chap rock up with a full sized piano, park it on the pavement, take off the casing to expose its guts and sit to play some hauntingly beautiful tunes to an increasing crowd.

We chose to eat inside at Public, Kitchen Bar & Restaurant at Steamer Wharf as I was convinced it was about to rain. We nearly didn't get a table as Gary approached the Maître de alone and it's a place that encourages sharing food, which you would find difficult if alone. The place was heaving and we opted to have a drink at the bar whilst waiting for a table. Essentially, we didn't leave that spot for about 3 hours... It started with pork BBQ sticks and pork rillettes, then progressed onto calamari, followed by Nana Margy's lemon and thyme chicken and salted beet, goats cheese and almond salad. There was a lot of banter with the staff and lots to drink, including a moccachino martini for pud! A good time was had by all and the soft bed at the apartment in the Glebe was very welcome!