Flight was at 7pm, but it was almost an hour before we took off. Seats were 2-3-2 and we had the 2 seats at the second row of our section, next to the emergency exit. Nowadays nothing is sacred on the internet, I already found out as soon as I knew we were 19A and 19B that we had emergency exit seats.

Legroom was comparable to business class. Now I realise comfort on a plane is proportional to legroom. food and stuff were good, but no personal screen, had to watch the film on the big screen.

***

Arrived Auckland at 11.30am local time. Had to claim luggage, go to the domestic terminal via a slow courtesy bus and check-in again. I was getting anxious because there wasn't a lot of time. What struck us was the number of Asians in Auckland, well at least at the airport, we called them the ethnic majority. Honestly, they were everywhere, I was afraid we'd arrived at another Vancouver.

Flight to Dunedin was via Wellington, so more time wasted with the stopover. Got very tired at the end and it was a relief to finally land. Dunedin airport was tiny and very provincial. Our car was a Nissan Pulsar, NZ$524 for 10 days rental. The guy didn't have change for 530 so there was a bit of faffing around, he kept asking if we had change and we kept saying no. Dude, we just got off the plane and only have large notes. Last time I drove was in April, so it took me a few minutes to get used to driving again. Luckily not many cars, and slow speed.

Didn't see much of Dunedin town itself, we drove straight to the Otago Peninsula where our hotel was. First shock to the system was the narrow road, next to coast with no barriers between the car and the water. The Portabello motel was fantastic, the pictures on their website didn't do it justice. It was spotlessly clean, big, with kitchen, balcony. Everything looked new. Lovely.

Took a shower and napped for 10 mins on the armchair. Almost 7pm when we headed out for dinner. Hey! it was like London! Still light out. Actually it didn't get dark till past 9pm, which was another pleasant surprise.

Drove a little round the city, found parking space easily. Decided on Japanese food at this casual place called Minami -- grilled fish, fresh oysters, one sashimi bento each. NZ$40 approx.

Drove to Woolworth's after dinner, bought essentials -- breakfast, water, drinks, bread, peanut butter, snacks and stuff like that. Took some pics on the way back to hotel of the sunset by the bay. Very nice.

***

Breakfast at "home" -- a full breakfast of sausages, eggs, grilled tomato and toast. The plan today was to see the wildlife of the Otago Peninsula, which is one of NZ's biggest eco-tourism centres. Drove out to the tip of the peninsula to find the Royal Albatross Centre. VERY windy, so windy all we could hear was the wind. Decided not to go on the 90 minute tour of the albatross centre - we weren't 100% enthusiastic about albatrosses. Took a short walk down to the cliffs, even more windy.

Drove about 5 mins to Penguin Place, and there we did take part in the tour (2.15pm, 1.5 hours) to see yellow eyed penguins. It's a conservation project that provides sanctuary for penguin pairs to raise their chicks in a safe environment. Apparently this year there are 21 pairs. Altogether just about 4,000 yellow eyed penguins are left in the world, concentrated in NZ and South Australia, so it's vital to give them the opportunity to breed. We walked with the guide in the reserve, there were seals there too, lazing about. Even one that was surfing in the water! We also saw some seagull chicks. The penguin chicks were brown and almost the same size as the adults. We walked along trenches and tunnels that had viewing gaps at ground level so we were invisible to the animals. Managed to get close to a few penguins, it was fantastic and well worth the trip.

Started drizzling a bit in the late afternoon. Drove back out to Dunedin and had kebabs. NZ$6 each, plus a diet coke. The kebabs were different from London ones, the meat was a little tougher but the cook put hummus with it and it made the whole thing very tasty.

At the outer edges of Dunedin was Baldwin street, holder of the world record for steepest street. And it was steep, by the time we walked up the top we were exhausted.

Bought our dinner at Woolworths -- lamb shoulder steak, monkfish, carrot soup, steamed puddings. Cooked ourselves. The monkfish was so fresh we set aside a little for sashimi. niiiiice.

One thing about NZ in December, it gets dark late. So we were having dinner at 8 and it seemed early.

***

First on the agenda this morning was fill up the car. It was cold, windy and wet at the BP, grrrr. Pleasant drive though, we were heading towards Alexandra, via the "fruit route." There were lots of fruit farms near Alexandra and we bought a large pack of cherries at $12. The cherry orchards were shrouded by nets, to protect them from birds and insects apparently.

By the time we got to Central Otago the weather had changed so much, from wet and windy to positively hot. Scenery changed too, we drove alongside the Clutha River and stopped at the Cromwell Lookout to take some huge photos.

Alexandra is supposed to be a largish town in the region, but the main street was still pretty tiny. We had a late lunch of mini quiche and bacon & egg pie (more like a quiche than pie IMO). Visited the tourist information centre and got tons of brochures. Armed with our newly acquired 'Central Otago Wine Map' we headed towards Cromwell to the vineyards. This is the southermost winemaking region in the world (NZ holds a lot of 'southermost' records) and the climate of hot summers and cool winters suit the grapes very much.

The vineyard we visited at Cromwell wasn't impressive so we decided to move on, and ended up at Bannockburn. Almost by chance we hit Olssens, which is the last one along the road it is on. We tasted the available wines, had a brilliant chat with the lady there and bought a couple of bottles of pinot noir and some verjuice, which is sour like vinegar and used in dressings and baking. 2 bottles of ice wine too, total $165, pretty good. There were some sculptures on the grounds, more photo opportunity.

Here's a photo at Cromwell Lookout and one of the sculptures at Olssens. Kinda similiar?

Then it was onward again to Queenstown. The view on the way was stunning. Rock formations, driving along the river, sheep, deer, lovely. Passed by the place where bungy jumps were invented but it was closed. Still tourists there taking pictures of the bridge.

Queenstown was very touristy, we thought it was like Davos. And yes, it felt like a downmarket version of any alpine resort. Very commercial, lots of outdoor shops and backpackers hostels. We had dinner at a posh restaurant called the Tatler - john dory on risotto cake & asparagus and rack of lamb with potato dauphinois & ratatouille. Half a dozen oysters to start and a beer. $90 total.

Still light out so we walked around the town. Bought cheese, eggs, ribena and stuff at a small supermarket. Tried to decide on what to do tomorrow. Saw a few internet places, about $3-5 an hour. VERY tempted. sigh. Here's a photo of sunset at the lake. NO FILTERS, NOT PHOTOSHOPPED.

We stayed at the Colonial Village motel. It could not be compared with the Portabello at all, it's one of those places where you try to touch very little of the furniture and fittings. nothing particularly wrong, just not 100% comfortable.

***

Major panic this morning -- my camera memory card decided to stop working, so I spent a very frustrating early morning in freaked out mode. We tried it on the PB and it was the card, not the camera. Still not good. The day when we were driving to supposedly the most beautiful scenery in NZ and my camera conks out.

Ooops, I'm getting ahead of myself. We got up at 6am and were out by 6.45am, drove through the fog and got to Te Anau in very good time, about 2 hours. Found an electrical shop and bought a new memory card. $220, yikes, but no choice.

Milford Sound was famous for its spectacular fjords and scenery. We took the 11.25am from Mitre boats and it was the best decision today -- a small boat, few passengers and NO TOUR GROUPS! Gotta see it to believe it, but the entire Milford Sound was teeming with tours. Luckily we were early, and they all took the other bigger boats.

Our cruise had only about 20 people, plenty of space to move about and take pictures. As much tea and coffee as we could drink on the boat. Weather started off not so good, cloudy and rainy, scenes weren't exciting. The boat went full speed out to the tip of the fjord and it was a fun bumpy-ish ride. On the way back the sun came out again and we spotted some seals sunning themselves on a rock.

Then we saw dolphins. many many many, and they played around with the boat. The captain turned the boat around in a giant circle and they surfed along the wash, it was brilliant. Also trying to spot penguins but no luck. It was a great cruise though. Here's the Stirling falls, next to the Elephant, see the trunk?

Driving 4 hrs to Milford means another 4 hours back to Queenstown. Stopped at Te Anau for an hour on the way back, stretched our legs and had a frozen yogurt. Bought venison pie at the ice cream place, chatted for a llittle while with the owners. The drive back was long too, but I got up to 110kph on the open roads and we were back at our hotel by 8pm.

Did laundry, popped over to KFC to buy some chicken wings, then had the wings and pie for dinner. I washed it all down with some Speights beer we bought at the Woolworths in Dunedin, seemed so long ago.

***

Woke up at 9-ish, had breakfast of beans on toast, taking it easy after yesterday. By the time we headed out it was almost 11am. Drove via Cardona to Wanaka, about 1 hr away. There are 2 possible routes to Wanaka, one via this Cardona road which is shorter but more windy, the other is via the main highway.

We both wish we'd known more about Wanaka, cos it would have suited us better to stay there rather than in Queenstown. Had a quick lunch of mutton pie, steak pie and diet coke - $9.20. Enquired at one shop about fishing, but it was full. Asked at another place and we were in luck.

This boat held max 3 passengers so with 2 of us and the captain it was perfect. Did a type of fishing called trolling, where we cast the line with colourful lures and moved the boat along very slowly. Had 3 lines - two were handheld, and another downrigger fixed to the side of the boat which was weighted and went down further. First hour went by and nothing. Then James, the captain, changed the lure on one of our rods and quickly we reeled in a salmon. It was about 1.5 foot long and perhaps 1-1.5kg. We were really excited! Decided to keep it. Soon we got a second one.

The downrigger got another salmon, but we put it back, thinking 2 was enough. We then stopped for tea and coffee and I was still eating my trail snack when I got a pull on my line. Reeled in slowly, it didn't feel like a salmon. The salmon fought and pulled, this one felt looser and didn't fight -- it was a large brown trout. I decided to put it back, cos we had 2 salmons already and we couldn't possibly eat them all.

Two more salmons followed quickly, we put them back in the lake too. So all in all 5 salmons and 1 brown trout -- wow, in only 2.5 hours, impressive. Would have liked to have snagged a rainbow trout too, but they were much rarer in that lake.

We agreed it was a way way better experience than the jetboats, rafting or other activities. Such a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. We bought some salad and oven bake bags for the salmon, and a utility knife at a homeware store. All prepared. heehee.

Drove back to the hotel to prepare dinner. Some of it went as sashimi and the rest were poached inside one of the bags, in the microwave. Yummy. And free too! well, free with the $285 + $18 licence that was the fishing trip.

After dinner we drove out to town and visited a bar called minus 5°. It was a bar constructed entirely out of ice, $25 entrance including one vodka cocktail. They provided us with warm jackets and gloves. Our drinks were served in ice glasses and we sat on seats made from blocks of ice.

It was so much fun, we took lots of pictures of the ice sculptures and the drinks. A lot of them didn't turn out that good cos of the reflection. Actually the temp was -7.8°C, but I wasn't that cold, taking my gloves off was fine.

Great trip so far. We're enjoying ourselves.

***