A 23-year-old Australian man saw little more than the inside of the Queenstown Police Station cells on a "spur of the moment" trip to Queenstown, after being arrested on drugs charges at Queenstown Airport on Tuesday.
Sergeant Steve Hindmarsh, of Queenstown, said the man was picked up by Customs officers after landing in the resort on a flight from Sydney.
He allegedly had about 2gm each of Ecstasy and methamphetamine.
The man told police he was given the drugs at a party in Australia by friends and put them in his jeans pocket, then forgot about them, even washing the jeans twice before he flew to Queenstown.
The man appeared in the Queenstown District Court on Wednesday before Judge Paul Kellar, and admitted possession of class B-controlled Ecstasy and class A-controlled methamphetamine.
He was fined about $1500 and was directed to leave New Zealand by the Department of Immigration, Sgt Hindmarsh said.
"He got to see a lot of the Queenstown Police Station and experience the cuisine here," Sgt Hindmarsh said.
