the way to Glenorchy

We were about to set off from Te Anau and travel the length of Lake Wakatipu from Kingston, where we popped in to re-visit Margaret and Peter for a midday break, and Glenorchy which was being billed as the star attraction of the entire tour of NZ. Not only because of its stunning views, but also that it was not on the main tourist track and were in for a couple of days virtual isolation on a mountainside retreat. Such blissful environments are rarely listed, but we zipped through Queenstown, getting our bearings on the airport in readiness for Monday's flight, as the sun glowed against a blue sky.
We stopped shortly after, with views of the Lake, which had been in our view all the way around Queenstown. We had noticed a massive yellow cloud from before entering Queenstown, and wondered what it might be. Caroline's worst nightmare was confirmed when a local New Zealander pulled into the car park we were stopped for lunch as we observed more clouds of yellow coming from a forest of trees above us.
"thats pollen.... from the pine trees... breath a few lung fulls in... it'll do you good" said the driver as he put his window down and I enquired as to what it was.
"worst I've seen in years" his wife sat beside him nodding in agreement.
He didn't stop as a mini tornado of dust whipped up between our 2 cars.
we didn't stop long, and ate our picnic lunch and drove north for another 35 minutes and pulled into Precipice Creek Station.
We introduced ourselves to the owner, Vladka (from the Czech Republic). I did my Czech greeting "Dobry Den" to which she responded accordingly, but reassured her that it was as far as my czech translation went.
She showed us where to park and we entered into a very modern designed unit which from the outside appeared to be a corrugated metal shed, (painted dark green). But inside was a very nicely decorated and well thought out lay-out with a kitchen area, living area, separate bedroom and a bathroom. From both the bedroom and the living area you could access the wooden deck area which looked across the valley floor to the snow capped mountain opposite.
we had come here to have our final chill before heading into urban Auckland and then San Fransisco on Wednesday. so this was going to be just great... we could already tell.