After Queenstown, it was time to relax and catch up with friends. I took the bus to Dunedin and got there in time to meet Suki for lunch. The weather was miserable leaving Queenstown - the remnants of the previous night's storms - but gradually cleared up as we headed first east towards Cromwell and then southeast following the Clutha river. By the time we reached our destination, the sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. But by jove it was cold!

After lunch, Suki gave me her doorkey and I dropped off my bags. Then I walked into town and spent the afternoon in the Public Art Gallery. It was so good! I hadn't soaked up any "kulcha" for a long while, so my eyes roved eagerly over the arresting exhibits on display. I particularly enjoyed the Stanley Spencer exhibition (highlights included the Resurrections from under pavements and the series he did commemorating the Clyde shipbuilding industry) and Kay Rosen's Big Talk pieces (highlights included "ABCDEFGhi" and her "roof/floor").

That evening, I met Suki and her colleague Rachel for some drinks and then went for food with Suki & her boyfriend Stu at a Japanese. Then it hit me: the pub and the restaurant were exactly the ones Bernard took me to when I was last here, two years ago between weddings! What a coincidence. The food was as delicious as I remembered it too. We got the whole teppanyaki performance!

On Friday I had a relaxed morning, catching up on a week's sleep. After lunch with Suki (more Japanese - hurrah!) I went into the Otago Museum and was once more blown away. They had a fab exhibition on human sacrifice in pre-Columbian Peruvian societies, plus a great collection of fossil remains of indigenous dinosaurs & stuff.

That evening we all met up again for drinks. Some of Stu's work friends came too, and we headed to the cinema to watch Van Helsing. It was okay, but not great. But we love a bit of Kate Beckinsale, especially in leather gypsy gear. After the film we headed back to the Robbie (last night's pub) and there found Bernard & Amanda, who were in town for Amanda's graduation the next day. Suki & Stu left after a couple of drinks, but I hung around with Bernard and his mates. We went on to a few different bars and I got home around 4.

Saturday didn't have a morning, for obvious reasons. In the afternoon Suki & Stu drove me out onto the peninsula. Stu went paragliding whilst Suki & I went to encounter some penguins. They were great! Of the world's 18 penguin varieties, only one is not social. Guess which one they have in NZ! But it was cool, because we still saw loads of birds, just not in big groups. One of the penguins appeared to be in distress, because it took him ages to get out of the water, but then he just stood upright and waddled off. Another one was doing some serious surfing moves in the inshore waves.

The absolute highlight was one penguin we caught completely unawares. It was just milling about next to a pond up from the beach. Unbeknownst to it, there were fifteen humans in a hide only metres from its face - or should I say arse! This penguin, quite out of the blue, turned its back to us and proceeded to vent a vast jet of white shite some body-lengths towards us. Of course, we momentarily forgot to be silent and, as one, gasped in raucous disapproval. The penguin clearly heard us, although we stifled our "Eeeeeugh!"s as soon as we could, and it did an about-turn to see where the noise was coming from. I know it's shamelessly anthropomorphic of me, but I can't help feeling the penguin had a guilty look on its face, as if to say it had thought it was shitting in private but realised with horror that it had had an audience.

After Suki & I picked up Stu from the field he had been flying over, we headed home and had a bite to eat there. Stu & Suki between them rustled up a delicious pasta meal, washed down with quality NZ beer (Monteith's). Then, later, I headed into town to meet up with Bernard & Amanda and their mates. Amanda had taken part in the Otago University graduation procession through town earlier in the day, and there was a whole lot of celebrating going on. We did a bit of drinking, a bit more drinking, a bit of boogying and a bit of walking home. Cool!

Driving into Queenstown this time was lovelier than the first time, because now there was a dusting of snow on the peaks surrounding the lake and the town. It was how a ski resort should look. There was still plenty of sun, but the air was chilly. The snow hadn't settled in town itself, and there's a good month to go before the ski season starts, but all the same it felt all wintry and nice.

I went for a long walk along the lake shore, heading out of town towards Frankton, a posh suburb. I started by making my way through the small botanical gardens, smelling the various rose varieties planted out there and enjoying the aroma of pine needles along the path. Then I started on the walk proper, which snaked its way between the icy waters and a long row of beautiful modern houses. There is money in Queenstown. The weather began to turn, but I was enjoying the walk so much that I only turned back when it really started to rain heavily - ie, when the footpath was less footpath and more torrential mountain stream, and I had to leap between dry stretches.

I got back to the hostel drenched, but there were people in my room (okay, it was their room too) so I didn't hang about there. Instead I dried off in the lounge area, and caught the second half of Bad Boyz II - pretty dire stuff. Then I walked into town and got some food. Wandering around town, watching groups of people on their way to or from restaurants, bars & shops, I was conscious of my inability to go into a pub and just sit down, order a drink and maybe talk to strangers. Funny, isn't it. I really like meeting people, but I can't bear the thought of hanging about in bars on my own. So, back to the hostel I went.

It had been a long day, and I got to sleep pretty quick. But not before I sat a while and enjoyed my first mountain thunderstorm. I was sat in a covered area outside the hostel reading my book. It wasn't even raining that hard in town, but suddenly I saw a flash in the corner of my eye. It was pretty feeble really; I thought it might have been someone's camera flash. But then came the most drawn-out gutsy rumble of thunder I have ever experienced. It was loud in a subtle, earthquakey way. Not shrill or tinny, more like nature's ghettoblaster with the bass turned right up. It must have lasted 30 seconds, from the initial slow shudder down my spine to the valedictory tremble of the ground under my feet.

My last full day in Queenstown I decided should be action-packed. The morning was devoted to Fly By Wire, where you get strapped into a small flying machine, winched up the side of a steep ravine, and then dropped like a stone towards the valley floor. Luckily, there's a bloody great propeller behind your feet. You give the throttle some wellie and use the handlebars to steer, and hey presto! you're flying. It was okay, and the ten minutes went like a flash so I must have been enjoying it, but to be honest I think the best bit was the time in pendulum-mode, after the engine cut out and before I was brought back to earth. I could let go of the steering and enjoy the view up the valley of the Shotover river and down to Lake Wakatipu.

The afternoon was spent on a quadbike in the foothills of the Remarkable Mountains. What a great time! There were five of us: Richie the guide, an Ozzie called Dave and an Irish couple. The track wasn't quite as mud-centric as the one in Greymouth, but it was still lots of fun. It was more like a rally course, with steep inclines, long straights across fields or by lakes, and the odd chicane through rock-strewn gulleys. To be honest, whenever I had the courage to look up from the bit of track just in front of me, I felt like I was in a computer game. You know, one of those racing games where the foreground keeps changing but the snowy mountains and wispy clouds seem to stand still. It was top!

That evening I had a few beers with Dave to help him soothe the pain of his slight mishap (he managed to get the quadbike to roll over and land on his ankle!), and promised to visit him in Canberra when I'm in Oz later this year. Then I made my way to the cinema to watch Kill Bill Vol. 2. What a cracker! I haven't seen the first one yet, but you don't need to in order to work out what's going on. Bloody brilliant. I think it's my favourite Tarantino movie yet. It was an hommage to and a piss-take of several genres of film, all done with panache. And Uma Thurman just looks great, whether coated in grime or in a Grace Kelly style black-and-white sports car shot.

Sunday was a lovely day. There was none of Te Anau's usual morning fog. Instead bracing winds cajoled banks of cloud across the light blue sky. Dan, Sandra & I joined Simon, Dan's brother, for a trip on Lake Manapouri, the body of water against which Te Anau nestles. It was choppy going, and we had to turn around smartly when dark cloud and rain started streaming toward us from the west. So we brought the boat back to Simon's house and headed out in his truck to do a spot of fly fishing. It was quickly clear that I had an amazing wrist action for a beginner. So being single does have benefits.

In the evening, we headed over to Simon & Misa's house for dinner. Dan's parents & sister Stacey had gone home earlier, but we were still a lively crowd, what with the boys being on home territory and therefore full of beans. The meal was delicious and the evening was lovely. We borrowed a video from Misa of a Japanese film called "Shall We Dansu?" about a guy in mid-life crisis who falls in love with a ballroom dancing instructor. Sounds cranky, but it was really heart-warming, a bit like "Strictly Ballroom".

On Monday I did a day-trip to Doubtful Sound. Doubtful is not as steep-sided as Milford, but it is much longer and more remote. We saw not only fur seals but also two pods of bottle-nose dolphins which was a real treat! I got chatting with two Swiss guys and couldn't stop taking photos every two minutes. Doubtful, in my view, is more spectacular than Milford by far. Again, we had all sorts of weather, ranging from a sunny start to the day with the trip on Lake Manapouri, through rain and wind on the catamaran, to snow (at least evidence of snow on the mountains around us) on our way back to Manapouri.

It was weird to be inside a power station again after so long! Looking down the length of the turbine hall, I felt somehow at home, even as I debated the merits of liberalising energy markets with the two Swiss guys. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you've been working in the power industry for a while. I found myself worrying about turbine efficiency and fish-ladders and electrical type things again. Strangely easy to fall into again.

I blagged my way onto the transfer bus to Te Anau, and jumped out opposite the lodge. No sooner had I started a roaring fire in the fireplace than Dan, Sandra & Simon arrived to tell me we were eating at Simon & Misa's again! At least the house would have a chance to warm up while we were gone. The food was gorgeous again - pizza with homemade base & toppings - and the boys were gorgeous again as well.

The next day I bade farewell to Dan & Sandra, and took the bus back to Queenstown. There were a few adrenaline-pumping activities I hadn't yet done...