Another day, another early start. This time at 6:15 to get our 10:00 flight to Queenstown.

We'd requested seats together online, but couldn't actually check-in online with Air New Zealand, so had to join a mammoth queue at the airport at 8:00. Despite getting to the airport 2 hours before our departure, we queued so long that we only got to the gate at final call. That being said, everything else about the flight was great - decent seats, touchscreen on-demand entertainment and nice food.

As we approached Queenstown for landing, we were struck by the beautiful scenery. It's next to a clear blue lake nestled into the mountains. Unfortunately that meant we were tossed around a fair bit on landing, which doesn't bode well for our flight to Milford Sound in an aircraft about one-tenth of the size of this one.

Julie's persistence paid off and got us a great deal on car hire in the airport. They drive on the left here and we have a NZ GPS app on our iPhones, so we were easily able to navigate to our motel near the town centre. We've got a studio apartment with fridge, cutlery etc. so stocked up on breakfast on our way back at the end of the night.

The surrounding hills are very reminiscent of Scotland and the illusion was complete as we wandered round the centre and found a small band playing bagpipes at the waterfront end of Rees St.

We had Indian curry for dinner at our usual venue - a food court. Early doors yet, but things definitely seem a bit cheaper than Australia 