So - I am back here at Mollies in Auckland for just one night and later today I fly to Vancouver. Last night drinks and dinner on Ponsonby Road ... pizza & red wine ...!

The New Zealand adventure is coming to a sad end and I am very pleased to say that it was a success.

The two islands held very different experiences both quite satifying. I got to play golf on a mountain top, white water sledge down a cold river, meet a "real" Kiwi, drink some awesome wines, swim with sharks, shear a sheep ... and make some lovely, lovely new friends.

I need sleep - Sonora Island here I come! I leave here at 8 p.m. and arrive at 2 p.m. ... on the SAME day! Bizarre!

Song of New Zealand: What a Wonderful World -Louis Armstrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRqYMTpXHc

Weather: Spring!

Hmmm ... it has been a rather interesting past 24 hours. It started yesterday evening with a trip to Fergburger - a legendary eaterie in Queenstown. The burgers are HUGE, delicious, expensive, delicious, served up by pretty girls, HUGE, delicious and HUGE! We each had one ... Tim, Jim, Vick (the GM of Eichardt's) and myself .. with some fries and lovely bottles of wine ... in the hotel.

We did bump into my water angel - Susan - in a dark alley! She looked so different out of a wet suit and in civvies!

Things got a wee messy. It was our last night as a group in NZ so we celebrated in style! Barmuda .. followed by the Boiler Room ... followed by Winnie's .. until around 3 a.m. - vodka and Red Bull ... dancing ... whooping and generally enjoying ourselves.

At 7.30 a.m. we were up for breakfast ... as we had one last feature to film - at Untouched World. This is a Kiwi fashion brand that became HUGE after Bill Clinton - rather publicly - started ordering the stuff! It is all natural Merino wool and possum fur ... and is rather expensive! All good stuff though.

Right - the boys and I flew back to Auckland where we punched each other goodbye - boys off to London and me to Mollies .... for another evening of fun & frolics. It's MY final night in NZ so I need to celebrate/cry!

Song of the Day/Night: Paper Planes - Mia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqlY0VOFtyA

Weather: Mr Blue Sky


the BEST burger in the world!
my water angel!

1st drink ... jimmy, timmy, vicky .... purrrrfect!

dancing queens!

and the crowd goes WILD!

Greeting from Eichardt's in Queenstown. Back here before we leave tomorrow - the boys to Auckland & then London and me to Auckland for a night (Mollies) then to Vancouver!

SO - left Blanket Bay after breakfast. I left the curtains open last night - the view was staggering this morning - simply divine! I loved Blanket Bay - yes, the views & location - but also the people, the food and the air. The stars at night are as spectacular as I have ever seen ...

SO - back in Queenstown and after quickly checking in to our lovely hotel, we headed up to the Skyline ... and into the capable hands of Kellie Goodwin. The Skyline has a gondola which climbs 450 metres above Queenstown, the luge - which I didn't try, the Kiwi Haka, bungy and restaurants.

First up, we took the gondola up, up and away! The views over Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown are awesome! Loved it!

Then we were treated to traditional Maori singing, dancing and stories. The group performed the poi and powhiri just for me. It was wonderful ... and quite moving.

It's the last night for the whole Inside Luxury Travel team in New Zealand ... and we are going out with the GM of Eichardt's to eat, drink and be rather merry - so all will be perrrrrrrfect!

Song of the Day: My Lovin' - En Vogue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpugp6DIb3I

Weather: Cold cloudy ... warm cloudy ... warm no clouds ... cold no clouds ...


a view i will miss at blanket bay
kellie goodwin

up high above queenstown

maori magic

Today was rather action packed and involved sheep! For those who don't know, I am the proud "daddy" of two lambs - Bert & Ernie - who are just lovely. Today, I learnt some skills that will make their lives better!

Up rather early - excited to see the views from my picture window. Wasn't disappointed! In fact, the sun was shining, the sky blue ... and the wind had dissipated.

After breakfast, we headed up to Temple Peak Station (15 minutes away) with Philip's (GM)lovely wife Karen, home to Mandy & Mark Hassleman. We turned up to meet Mandy and a man (Mark) came out of a bush with a chainsaw ... saw Tim and said "you are a bloody hairy bastard". We cried with laughter! Mandy is an expert with felt ... and weaving ... with Merino wool. It's a true art form - and I was taught how start making a felt ... sweater, rug, hat ... I am not artistic in any way, shape or form - but I quite enjoyed learning a new skill!

From there we drove to the Wyuna Sheep Station. Wyuna is an Aboriginal word meaning "clear as the sky". I met up with Dave Anderson who runs the stables and who had two lovely horses waiting for me - Rio being my ride. We trotted down to the where the sheep are kept and Alastair Wallace ... the sheep farmer. There were a couple of hundred sheep in the paddock .. with 8 who had not been sheared! First, Alastair showed me how to herd sheep using his 4 pups: Kip, Roy, Cash & Jed. Then we went into the sheep shearing shed ... and Alastair showed me how to shear a sheep. Some shearers can do upto 400 sheep a day ... !

It's not easy shearing a sheep ... Alastair did a great job on his two ... but I rather mangled my poor one. While she did get sheared, she also got a wee cut and was left looking rather "half cut". Poor baby ran out with her buddies ... not happy! A sheep's coat is around 5 inches thick, is oily, dirty and round the back, covered in poo & wee. I got covered in all of the above - thankfully the Blanket Bay housekeeping staff cleaned up my clothes in double quick time!

After a quick lunch, we met up with Grimmer & Royce from Dart River Adventures. We then zoomed up the river doing very quick 360 degree turns and more ... at high speed. It actually was quite fun .. and I didn't get too wet! To really get the measure of this part of the South Island you should really see it from the sky in a heli and from the water by boat.

We did have the 5 course dinner tonight! Yum!

Tomorrow - back to Queenstown and what will be a very sad farewell to Blanket Bay ... I have a good feeling that I will be back though!

Song of the Day: I Remember That - Prefab Sprout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blZAYjK9-nA

Weather: Glorious!

bert & ernie

mandy and some felt

rio

rio takes me for a trot

kip - the gorgeous pup

sheep herding

alastair - pro-farmer and sheep shearer followed by amateur shearer

callan grimmer

whooooosh!

OK - so woke up early and every bone & muscle was in deep, deep stress. It dissipated very quickly when I pulled back my curtains. The view was so amazing I just stood there for a while taking it all in. To the left and right - snow-capped mountains and Wapatiku Bay in front of me.

I did notice that the wind was REALLY blowing! I mean REALLY, REALLY blowing.

So - Blanket Bay. The property was bought in 1972 ... by the Tusher family. Originally bought as a retirement fishing retreat, it could only be turned into a hotel after the road between Queenstown and Glenorchy was finished in 1997.

It opened in December 1999 .. after a full two and a half years of construction. The beams come from old bridges, the rafters in the Great Room came from a wharf and the floors are New Zealand hardwood ... from old wool-sheds. The main building and chalets used 2000 tons of shist rock ... which gives it a distinct look.

There are just 13 suites ... and I have a Stateroom - a Chalet Suite bedroom (700 sq feet) + a Chalet lounge at (700 sq feet). The lounge and bedroom have open fireplaces. The bedroom has a large bathroom with steam shower. They both have one of the best views in the world.

So - the first thing we filmed this morning was the "arrival" and shots of the property. There's a gym, jacuzzi, pool, games room and and did I mention the views?

From the breakfast room, it looked like there was a mist or fog blowing across the Bay ... it was neither! It was "glacial dust" ... how cool is that?!

So - Mark Sycamore is the Exec Chef here and he's won more awards than anyone I know. Anyway, "we" cooked a salmon with chowder dish - while supping a fine 2006 Pinot Noir! The dish used only local ingredients and tasted delicious.

From there we interviewed the hotel GM - Philip Jenkins .. who gave me a wonderful insight into the property and the activities on offer. Tomorrow, I will be having a lot of fun!

The weather this afternoon has been appalling but will be better tomorrow! Yay!

Tonight, I had a sumptuous sushi meal and hopefully I will get an early night! No cellphone reception means that I won't be checking messages overnight!

THE VIEWS! THE VIEWS!

Song of the Day: Killer - Seal & Adamski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XBcT41ImSI

Weather: Good - Bad - Windy


glacial dust over the bay

philip jenkins - general manager

my bedroom

view from bedroom

lounge

view from lounge

bathroom

steam from steam-room

executive chef - mark sycamore

yummy yummy

THE DISH

baby moo in bed!

Greetings from Blanket Bay - just a wee south of Glenorchy - 45 minutes drive north from Eichardt's and Queenstown ...

We arrived quite late so I have not seen the views here - which are supposed to be spectacular. More on that tomorrow.

Today was frankly one of the most scary, crazy but most satisfying days of my life.

It all started so well. We drove down to the Amisfield Winery - 20 minutes from Queenstown. The wine region here is called Central Otago ... and there 100 + labels. Amisfield is most famous for producing pinot noir - lucky that, as it IS my favourite wine! It seems that Central Otago is on the same parallel as Burgundy (45?) which means that the soil & climate is very much like that of France ... and therefore these great wines are produced.

On hand to talk to us about South Island wine was Fleur Caulton (with Max). We sampled the excellent The Rocky Knoll 2006 pinot - that retails at around £80/$NZ160. A good wine, it would be fair to say! Also a screw top ... Amisfield has never had a complaint about "corked wine"!! It was a lovely, bright morning!

I also discovered "organic" cola (Allaganics) here ... yum!

After shooting back to the hotel for some lunch, we were met by Neil Harrison - the boss of Frogz White Water Sledging. We followed him on a 40 minute drive to his base at the Roaring Meg Power Station which sits on the Kawarau River. I had NO idea what white water sledging was .. I do now! Apparently a Frenchman - Thierry Huet brought this sport to Wanaka in 1991. You must remember that NZ is the adrenaline-sport capital of the world. The first ever bungee jump was done here .. and the highest one is in Queenstown (done it, seen it ... and have the t-shirt!).

ANYWAY - my guide/Pamela Anderson lifeguard was a lady called Susan Houge - who turned out to be ... well ... my angel. White water sledging is basically white water rafting but instead of a raft ... you have a board that is around 4 foot high! I was dressed in a safety and wet suit ... and taught the basics. The water was FREEEZING ... around 9 degrees. The company does not officially start the season for a month ... as the water is too cold. Anyway ... the 5 km "course" includes rapids (mad ones) and whirlpools ... and eddys ... and large jagged rocks ... and swells ... and cauldrons of fire & brimstone (well, it felt that way anyway!) ... Because of the filming, the 45 minute course took nearly 3 hours ... in which I got cramp in both legs, lost my board, was forced underwater for 30 seconds or so ... and generally was scared WITLESS time & time again! The stopping & starting for filming did not help as I just froze. It was an experience I did not expect or indeed will forget for a very, very, very, very long time.

I honestly believe that without Susan, I would have TOTALLY lost the plot. She kept me calm, talked nonsense (I am sure it was sense but I was not listening) and got me through it. I am NOT a fan of water at the best of times ... so today was one of the biggest living nightmares of my life. It took me 30 minutes to stop shivering afterwards ... and the heating in the 4x4 was on full!

I would do it again ... BUT only if Susan was there in the water with me ... and there were no cameras on me!

Anyway - checked out of Eichardt's (boohoo) and headed over to Blanket Bay ... we drove 40 kms without seeing another car! Very strange.

I am going to bed now ... I am a "dead man walking". What a day ... what a day!

Song of the Day: Life's What You Make It - Talk Talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXsmyLtpxlA

Weather: I just didn't care!


wine at 0900

fleur & max

smiles on the way to the sledging

dressed for action!

realisation sets in

off we go!

rapid-attack

the end ... 3 hours later ... a wonderful moment

my water-angel susan

OK - the rather strange purple person below is actually me! I received a few emails from "friends" who do not believe that I actually jumped into the bitterly cold Bay yesterday ... well ... here's proof - kind of ...

The MOST wonderful part of my job is the people I meet doing it. Today was no exception.

Early breakfast and off to meet with Louisa "Choppy" Patterson - the legendary Kiwi helicopter pilot with "Over The Top" - based at Queenstown Airport. She had even arranged for Coco - the chocolate Labrador - to be part of the welcoming committee! Also on-hand, golf pro Craig Palmer ... from The Hills in Arrowtown.

The plan was to fly up to the Remarkables - 1 mile (5280 feet) above sea level - and bash some golf balls from a snowy peak! We did this! The balls are bio-degradable - made of dog-biscuits ... or something! Using Callaway drivers, Craig and I hit ball after ball - while supping on beer and smoking cigars! A totally surreal experience but one that looks fabulous on camera! The views! The views!

Then another treat - we flew down to Arrowhead - home of The Hills -the most exclusive and picturesque golf club in New Zealand. It's the host to the New Zealand Open and owned by the gazillionaire jeweller Michael Hills. We played a couple of the holes for the show. I managed to drive straight and true ... which is a change from my normal game! The Hills is run by the sweet and gorgeous Sam Gent who fed & entertained us and also showed me her secret rooms ... two very special spa suites - which have comfy spa beds and change colours to keep you chilled out. Feeling the obvious stress in my life (!) - she also gave me a 10-minute massage which has kept me smiling all day! I wish I could go back there for a whole day!

We finally flew back to Queenstown - the Mile High Golf feature complete. Choppy is THE only pilot you should fly with down here. Her skilled manoeuvring of the heli made the shots easy to film and will look amazing on screen. She's also a genuinely warm & caring person ...

SO - back on dry land and we popped into the Art Bay Gallery and it's owner Pauline Bianchi. After a large chai latte, we discussed contemporary and uber art ... She exhibits and sells work from some of the most famous NZ artists ... while also holding art classes. There's even a resident artist in the gallery.

My favourite pieces were "Pie Tangi V2" ... about pies (which reminds me of a dear Kiwi buddy) and Susan Cleaver's "Eyes see Everything" ... which is a mosaic of tiny photos of eyes ... see below!

Back at Eichardt's tonight for more tapas and a glass of cider. We leave here tomorrow and are very sad about it. It is the smallest hotel we have ever filmed in but it has such interesting stories ... and good, caring staff ... It's baby-boutique-hotel-tastic!

Well, dare I say it again ... but "this was one of the best filming days ever" ... the boys are happy,I am happy .... la vita e bella!

Song of the Day: The Sweetest Thing - U2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfv3lJs5qE&feature=fvsr

Weather: Puuuuurrrrrrfffffffeeeeeeeeect!

coco gets a tummy tickle

my "taxi"

THE heli-company

the mile high golf club!

time for a cigar and beer

choppy & craig

choppy with the chopper

the gorgeous sam

the butler did it .. honest!

pauline - pretty in artistic red

the eyes have it!