New Zealand 5 : Queenstown and Central Otago

We drove to Queenstown where we were met by a severe shortage of accommodation due to the fact that it was Chinese New Year. Thanks to the wonderful staff at The Glebe, we got a huge apartment for the price of a double room and it proved to be an awesome location, especially for strolling home after late nights out. Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and was packed with backpackers, busloads of Chinese tourists and energetic retirees from Europe and America. There are very good restaurants in the town and out at some of the wine farms and surrounding towns.We had dinner at Madam Woo, an Asian Tapas-style place followed by live music at 1876. The next day we strolled around town, ate an awesome lunch at Josh Emett's Rata Restaurant and visited a bird park; our only chance to see a real live kiwi bird. For dinner we took the touristy vintage steamboat across to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a BBQ followed by drinks and live music at "Pub on Wharf".
On Friday we had a day of wine tasting in Central Otago, (in Gibston Valley,Cromwell and Bannockburn) with a great lunch at Amisfield Winery. We ended up at "Pub on Wharf" again for the evening. On Saturday we drove up to Glenorchy (not much here)and historic Arrowtown (rather too touristy.) We ate dinner at the steakhouse Botswana Butchery followed by another party, this time at the pub Ballarant.