An unlucky American tourist may have a starring role on New Zealand TV after her rental car rolled from a hotel car park, across a busy road, and into Lake Wakatipu.
Police, and curious onlookers, were at the lakefront across the road from Queenstown's Rydges Hotel shortly before 3pm.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said she was taking luggage into the hotel when the car rolled across Lake Esplanade and into the water, miraculously not hitting anything.
The woman had forgotten to put the handbrake on, she said.
''I'm not used to the left-hand thing, it's not muscle-memory yet,'' she said.
''It went down the driveway, over the kerb, and right into the lake.''
She did not have insurance.
The drama may also be coming to the small screen, with a crew from Police Ten 7 filming on site.
''I was here five minutes before this happened; I was just checking in,'' the woman said of the unfortunate start to her visit to Queenstown.
But, she admitted, it was not the first incident she'd had with the car.
''I did have one small mishap with the car, in a parking lot. I hit a rock.
''They say bad things come in threes, so I've got one more.''
She was planning to travel around the South Island, and hoped she would be able to get a replacement car soon.
