Helen Van Berkel checks into the Hilton Hotel and Resort, Queenstown.
Getting there: It's about an hour and 40 minute flight from Auckland and a five-minute drive from Queenstown airport to Kelvin Heights and the hotel. You might go around the block more than once to find the entrance —it's on the left, halfway down the hill.
The check-in experience: Pulling up in a little Jucy Hyundai and wearing black jeans may not be the usual mode for Hilton guests — the valets certainly checked several times: "Are you sure you're staying here?" Were I an easily offended person I may have been offended. Price: About $400 a night.
The accommodation: It involved a trip around the mulberry bush to find my room: a lift to level one, a walk along the corridor and another lift to the third floor. And there it was.
The facilities: My room had its own living area, a separate bedroom and a bathroom with a nice big bath. Outside the window were views of Wakatipu and a tribe of attention-seeking ducks that marauded on the lakeshore. A water taxi into town pulled up at the wharf directly outside.
Food and drink: The buffet had the usual offerings — plus the cool option to make your own vegetable juice from a selection of pre-sliced options. Good idea, Hilton. Guylian chocolates were placed on my pillow every night and a selection of macarons were an unresisted temptation.
Toiletries: Soap, body lotion and shampoo. I used the shampoo and the body lotion to give myself a luxurious bubble bath.
In the neighbourhood: The Hilton is some distance from Queenstown but a shuttle goes into town, there's a bus stop at the top of the hill and the water taxi is a 20-minute ride into town. Directly in front of you is the lovely Lake Wakatipu; all around you is the gorgeousness that is Queenstown.
