One Queenstown hotel's ''No1 guest'' was given the VIP treatment on Friday morning, celebrating her 85th birthday and her 25th stay in the resort.
Luce Wilsens, of Belgium, was treated to a morning tea, flowers and a card to mark the occasion, serenaded by staff at the Tanoa Aspen Hotel Queenstown singing Happy Birthday to her before blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.
Mrs Wilsens first travelled to the resort during her inaugural visit to New Zealand after she retired.
She told the Otago Daily Times on Friday she had travelled extensively prior to that, but had never been to New Zealand.
After her husband died she booked her first trip here, beginning in the North Island before making her way south.
''I didn't know anything about Queenstown [and] there were two hotels.
''One was this one [Tanoa Aspen], which was The Country Lodge then.
''I liked that name because I like to be out of town.''
Mrs Wilsens said the manager of the hotel at the time was ''very nice to me''.
''So, I said `I'll come back next year'.''
True to her word, she did - and she has come back every year for quarter of a century, staying for between four and six months, always in the same room.
However, her trips to New Zealand have not been without incident - five years ago she applied to extend her three-month visa and was required by Immigration New Zealand to spend almost $2000 on medical screenings, including tests for Aids and syphilis, and was also asked if she was pregnant.
A petition was launched, which attracted 300 signatures, and Mrs Wilsens was granted a five-month visa.
Ahead of her trip this year she sought to extend it to six months, having to apply in London.
''I thought `They will never give it to me'.
''They started asking me for police certificates from Switzerland, from Belgium, from New Zealand.
''But a fortnight before [I was due to fly] they gave me a three-year visa.''
Mrs Wilsens arrived at the beginning of the month in Queenstown, where she will be based until April.
While here, she said she enjoyed exploring the countryside, with a Queenstown-based driver on hand to ''take me everywhere on tracks''.
''I love to do that.''
Hotel manager Richard Crouch said it was ''always a thrill'' to have the sprightly octogenarian visit the hotel.
''It's just such a pleasure for us to have her every year.
''All of her gear is kept in storage; we fit out the room for her just before she arrives.
''Her driver comes to pick her up and she entertains in the restaurant once a week with friends and family.
''She's lovely.''
