Wanaka has a beautiful lakeside setting like Queenstown. However, it is far less busy and developed. Queenstown is full of hotels and visitor facilities. Interestingly a lot of the visitor accommodation which blights the edge of the lake seems to be unoccupied. Property is the most expensive we have seen in New Zealand but the prices don't seem to have fallen to take into account a fairly obvious lack of demand. Outside the town there are lots of areas where empty land is being advertised, to presumably no takers.

Wanaka although still suffering from the NZ tendency to allow development to spread in an almost uncontrolled manner, is a pleasantly sized town without the pretensions of Queenstown. Our campsite was in a beautiful position a bit out of town, on a bluff overlooking the river. We were able to walk along the lakeside to the town, about an hours walk. The town was busy with a triathlon event but still had a relaxed welcoming atmosphere. We ate at a lovely restaurant on a back street, the White House. It was recommended by a number of locals. A good adjunct to the Rough guide etc - local opinion. The White House was a slightly peeling art deco building on a back street. The owner, looked as if he was going through a bit of a crisis. He didn't like the canned muic from the triathlon which had apparently started at 5am. Staff had dissuaded him from shooting out the electrics. He claimed he was a champion sharpshooter. Not sure we believed him about his sharpshooting. Still the food was divine. The wine list featured local wines, a lot of which are not generally available. We loved Minaret Peaks a beautiful Pinot Noir, reminiscent of a really high quality Gamay. it features in none of the wine guides, it's only a hectare vineyard. They don't sell from the door but the local wine store in Wankaka has limited stock. highly recommended.

So fortified we headed off into the hills again. This time our target was the Rob Roy Glacier. We took an expensive ride to the start of the walk. It's a long ride along a 4wd track with fords etc. A bit much for our campervan. The walk starts by crossing the river in the main valley. Then it's a steep 300m climb through beech forest to an Alpine meadow. Then as you move up you see the glaciers above you with the streams melting out of them all around you - stupendous. We got out our stove and in true English fashion brewed up a cup of tea. It was glorious the waterfalls tumbled down through the valley and sadly we started to return. We headed confidently downhill. Everything was going well, the track was easy, and then agh! - Jackie tripped over a rock, got her hands caught up in the stick straps and landed on her chin. Embarrassing but not too bad. A serious black and blue chin resulted. Jackie was shocked but fine after deciding her jaw wasn't broken after all. However, the visit to the high spots of Auckland was a bit marred for her, looking as if she had been in a fight. People gave Michael strange looks!

We then moved from Queenstown to a campsite on the lake just near the airport, as we had booked to go up to Auckland for a couple of days to visit the boat and see the work being done. The flight went smoothly and it was quite something flying out of Queenstown airport as the plane has to skirt its way around the mountains, with fabulous views. We had booked into a hotel in Auckland, next to Viaduct Harbour for two nights. This allowed us to hire a car on day two and drive up to Gulf Harbour to check out Lady Kay and meet with the people working on her. All good so far, although much still has to be done.

On our final morning in Auckland we treated ourselves to a full body massage in the hotel - fabulous spa and massage and I was surprised how cheap it was. Very, very relaxed we then caught the coach back to the airport and flew back down to Queensland.