She was talking about the 38th Queenstown Winter Festival, which was launched in Earnslaw Park with the event's biggest fireworks display to date and a few words from Prime Minister John Key.
It seemed his joke-writer had been working overtime as Mr Key delighted the throng jamming the Lake Wakatipu waterfront.
"There is no snow but this is still the best place to be, right? I can't hear you. The All Blacks are going to win the Rugby World Cup, right?" the prime minister joked as he prompted a warm response from the audience.
"Anyone here from Australia? I bet you flew Air New Zealand," he said, before stirring up some dyed-in-the-wool patriotism.
"Anyone here from England? South Africa? You're not going to win the cup, either," a deadpan Mr Key said before he launched the dazzling pyrotechnics display.
Over the next 10 days, the Winter Festival will showcase the best of the resort, with its heart the picturesque ice rink over the creek on the Village Green.
From charity boxing to dog-barking, Stars on Ice to hockey on ice, poker tournaments, street parades, drag competitions, cyclocross and a cast of thousands, the 2011 event got off to an auspicious start last night, proving that winter is not just about snow.
Queenstown Winter Festival Programme
TODAY
• 10am: Arts and crafts market, Earnslaw Park.
• Noon: Festival Street Pde, streets of Queenstown.
• 1pm: Teddy Bears Picnic, Earnslaw Park
• 1pm: Frisbee golf, Queenstown Gardens.
• 5pm: Ski and board workshop, Revolver.
• 7pm: Ice hockey, Southern Stampede v Dunedin Thunder, Queenstown Ice Arena.
• 7.30pm: Masquerade Ball, Burlesque, Ice Box (sold out)
• 9.30pm: Groova, SkyCity Queenstown Casino.
TOMORROW
• 11.30am: Big Brunch, Wakatipu Grill at Hilton Hotel (sold out).
• Noon: Day on the Bay (birdman, jetsprints, paddleboard race, splash and dash, hundy 500), Earnslaw Park and Queenstown Bay
• 4.10pm: Ice hockey, Southern Stampede v Dunedin Thunder, Queenstown Ice Arena.
• 7pm: Thriller in the Chiller charity boxing, Queenstown Events Centre.
