A urgent phone call and Laura was SNATCHED from her hospital bed and wisked away by the same two bikers who had terrorised the corridors a day earlier.

Despite the very best of family friendship's from the Invercargill McKenzie family it was decided to resume the journey.

Fortunately David & Fiona were very keen to see that day one was a restful day and so Lady Laura sat out this ride in 4WD luxury while Jeffrey & Christopher braved a series of rain storms as they headed North on Highway 6 towards Queenstown.

Accommodation in Queenstown was according to the web based sites unobtainable due to the Chinese influx and Chinese New Year.The magic of localised knowledge and contacts saw Fiona frantically phoning friends and others until Jackpot.

A full house was obtained with 4 bedrooms and a double lock up garage for the bikes for 4 nights at a price that remains "mates rates."

We stopped for lunch now in brilliant sun shine at Gardston. Gardston is New Zealands most inland village with a population of around 100. It does however have two excellent cafe and a number of shops. The Old Gardston Hotel was our choice and a combo of freshly made pies and a coffee for $10 was most welcome.

After refueling Dave suggest "that perhaps Christopher should mosie on in front up the Devils staircase "and wait opposite Queenstown airport.

The Devil's Staircase is a section of road well known by the biker community (and the Police ) that can at times be good for a fast ton up plus trip.

There are disadvantages however if one sees one two or three white hire Toyota vans that flash brake lights frequently, it's not game on. These are driven (loosely described) by ill equipped Chinese tourists who will stop for selfies anywhere, drive out in front of traffic, turn across traffic and most definitately can not understand the signs that clearly state Ïf Traffic behind LET IT PAST!

I was very fortunate and had almost a clear 48km run along Highway 6 in Otago and made use of the sweeping bends and excellent road surface to continue to ensure my new tyres do not suffer from non rounded sides, Thanks Dave for your local biker knowledge and drawing upon your experience to provide a memorable ride into Queenstown.

Dave & Fiona were able to stay for a few hours and took us to their self built magnificant family log cabin.

Perched upon the mountains even having it's own private road with views that now are obtainable unless one was a multi million dollar budget, but no this is a family trust home not for sale but we were so grateful to be shown this unique house given that Dave had explained and illustrated with pictures its humble beginnings as a forest where each tree was selected. Felled cut to length and assembled into a house. This was not the finish as the house was disassembled and transported again as logs to its building site which was literally carved out of a small rock top high above Lake Wakatipu indeed the oldest steam vessel the Earnshaw is a mere speck upon the Lake as it journeys from Queenstown to Walter Peak many times daily since 1912. That was on first stop next day and we enjoyed the trip to Walter Park and back by this steamer that burns coal at 1 tonne per travel hour.

Craving lunch after the fresh air on the lake we looked around only tourist junk sandwiches from $15-28 so the intrepid guide took the party to a McDonald's where the only challenge was the usual üpgrade to Grande Sir "NO just a bacion & egg McMuffin,hash brown with a Seniors Coffee. "Sir a meal is cheaper" Only if you charge for the free seniors Coffee so lets start again please.

Laura was after cheap replacement sunglasses and the shops varied from $24.99 to $35.99 until I spied a dollar shop where the same glasses were $6 and they also had a whole sheet of little lamb stickers for Jeffrey to keep score!

Then the afternoon highlight was ready to commence a ride of 45kms around Lake Wakatipu to the North to the settlement of Glenorchy. Ngai Tahu in local iwi.

This town with around 400 population is the home to Mrs Woolly's General store with food, gifts, clothing and basic hardware while the rest of the town includes two pubs, cafe's and giftware. Accommodation ranges from the local backpackers camp at $135 up to private BnB for around $2000 per night.

The town also serves as a hub for various hiking tracks and the Dart & Rees River Jet boats as well as heliflights and small aircraft flights from the local airstrip.

However it was the road surface and scenery that was our task and we were not disappointed. The cornors once clear of Queenstown rolled gently under harsh accereration and the tyres craved to be leant over resisting the dreaded flattening of high quality semi track tyres.

The sign clearly again stated "Traffic behind? Let it past"but Wong No English again did not understand so it was a quick flick of the wrist and the white Toyota's were a distant image in the mirror.

The only real impediment was the scenery which begged a photo stop not once not twice but three times but the slick camera skills soon had the motorcycle back on the black surface and lapping the circuit er raodway until Glenorchy appeared and Mrs Woolly offered a Sundae.

A ride around and a photo stop at Glenorchy Wharf then it was the same trip in reverse and perhaps even a better run as the Lake being on the right seemed to blend into the road way naturally and traffic was more co operative as it was nearing dinner time.

However that did not stop a visit to the Gondola and a trip up 436m to overlook Queenstown. The staff at the ride kindly saw us riding around and around looking for parking and waivered the "fine"of $96 and allowed us to park in the staff parking area. The ride up and back being far less an adventure then my previous visit in the early 1970's when the old clam shell cars were operating and our's didnt close.

Pack n Save offered us the opportunity to have home cooked lamb chops, potatoes and peas for dinner a change well liked by all after weeks of cafe and restaurant meals.