Another crack of dawn……By now we had named the Centra at Aukland "Fawlty Crossroads Motel". The catalogue failures was endless but highlights included TV remote control not working, coffee machine out of order at breakfast andhaving my glass of Pinot Noir served into my lap. The domestic departure lounge at Auckland was devoid of any facilities save a ropey cappuccino. Finally we were off and no more airports for 3 weeks.

Arrived in a cloudy and cool early morning Queenstown and picked up our wheels for the next 3 weeks. After the V8 Mustang, a 1998 Toyota sprinter 1500 with 140K on the clock was a bit of a come down. Annelise had a panic attack when she couldn't find the button to lower the window and opened the door to speak to someone. I pointed out some useful rotating handles positioned on the doors which would perform the same function manually. I put a brave face on it but I had to admit not having remote central locking, or even central locking was a bit irritating.

Headed off into Queenstown: lovely setting but the town seemed like one big bakpaka hostel/ ticket agency. We found ourselves in an outdoor equipment shop and got kitted out ready for the great outdoors. Annelise bought some walking shoes. She had requested Jummy Choos for her birthday, but I pointed out that the red lining of her new walking shoes had a nice Christian Louboutin look to them.

We strolled along the lake and then headed for Arrowtown (pop: 1700).A former mining settlement, Arrowtown was founded in the 1860s gold rush, and had an interesting Chinese community museum (these Chinese miners weren't treated very well by the early settlers). Checked into Arrowtown Heights, which despite its lofty name, was a bungalow B&B. Rae and Winston (who, incidentally, had never heard of Ray Winstone) had built a lovely contemporary home with stunning mountain views from every window.

We took a look around the "town centre", ate in the local, and went for a lovely walk along the Arrow River. Annelise thought she had spotted a Panther moving stealthily in the vegetation across the river. Our patience was rewarded with the sighting of a domestic cat.

Our hosts recommended we try a bar called the Blue Door as that was where the local movers and shakers hang out. We had a glass of local Pinot Noir in the very cool bar to which 4 others had flocked.

Went for dinner at Pesto next door and had lovely pasta washed down with some of the region's finest - you've guessed it - Pinot Noir.