Zara's here ... Mike's got the baggage

Newlyweds Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall were reunited in Dunedin last night, just hours after Tindall faced media for the first time since his notorious night out in Queenstown.

After lunching in Hawkes Bay yesterday, Ms Phillips continued a day of dodging media waiting at various airports by flying into Dunedin last night under the cover of darkness.

She continued to avoid the media, some of whom had been waiting at Dunedin International Airport since 7am, jumping into a late-model Range Rover driven on to the tarmac alongside the plane after it came to a stop.

Once it left the tarmac, the Range Rover, with unmarked police cars in front and behind it, took off at high speed.

The pair, and a friend Ms Phillips travelled with, were seen walking into the Southern Cross Hotel, where the England team is staying, about 25 minutes later.

The couple have not seen each other since Tindall's drunken night out in Queenstown when he was seen flirting with a mystery blonde.

Ms Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter, arrived in Auckland on Wednesday, attending a charity fashion show that night.

She surprised staff at the Gintrap Napier Cafe and Bar in Napier when she lunched there with two friends yesterday.

Ms Phillips and her friend arrived in Dunedin on a flight from Christchurch at 8.55pm.

Most passengers were unaware royalty was in their midst.

One woman, who realised who she was after overhearing cabin crew discussing Ms Phillips, said Ms Phillips and her friend sat quietly during the flight.

"They were real subtle. She was just kind of really low key. She didn't want to be noticed," the woman said.

When the flight landed in Dunedin, Ms Phillips walked off the plane with her head down, talking on her cellphone, the woman said.

Earlier, Tindall made his first appearance in front of media since footage surfaced of him apparently flirting with a woman in a Queenstown bar.

England's media managers had prefaced the news conference at the Southern Cross Hotel by insisting on rugby-only questions, but that did not deter British media, who repeatedly asked questions about the Queenstown incident.

A subdued Tindall was asked how he had dealt with the period since the incident, and if it had been a challenging time for him.

He mumbled "not really" before going on to say how disappointed he was to miss last week's game against Georgia after captaining the team to a win against Argentina the previous week.

Asked if his game was affected by what appeared in the press, Tindall replied he hoped it would be fine.

As the media pack pressed for more, Johnson said the team had put the issue "to bed".

" . . . we've played since then; it's not an issue.

"I spoke in a long press conference about it last week. We've had that conversation.

"The guys just went out for a drink."

He then cut reporters short, insisting the topic return to rugby.