Mutsuko Morisue (42), a Japanese resident of the resort, was standing on the footpath with her bicycle chatting to a friend.
Her head hit the bonnet before she was thrown 3m or 4m in the air, landing on the road 10m away.
The 33-year-old Englishman - a recidivist drink-driver with two previous convictions in his home country - kept driving for 100m before stopping in the middle of the road and running away.
On Monday, finally home after more than two months in Dunedin recovering from a traumatic brain injury, Ms Morisue stood up in the Queenstown District Court and described how Catlin's actions on March 3 had affected her life.
Last week, before he was sentenced to two years and four months' jail by Judge Bernadette Farnan, Catlin agreed to an interview with the Otago Daily Times.
He decided to talk, he said, after his restorative justice meeting with Ms Morisue a fortnight ago, when she and her supporters urged him to educate others about drink-driving.
He also hoped, forlornly as it turned out, that the judge's knowledge of the interview would help to save him from prison.
In fact, the interview was conceived by the Queenstown police, who saw it as a means of ramming home their drink-driving message. Readers can decide whether Catlin's motives are sincere or self-serving.
He told the ODT he could not remember hitting Ms Morisue.
Earlier that day, he had been drinking with workmates at the Lake Hayes building site where he lived and worked, consuming about eight bottles of beer. He then went into town with friends and drank ''more than a few'' before getting in his car about 10pm.
He recalled driving up Stanley St, but the rest was ''fuzzy''.
''I don't remember anything until after the accident.
''I remember getting out of the car and thinking 'oh no, I've crashed my car, I'm drunk, if I get caught they'll ban me from driving'.
''So that's why I decided to leave the scene.''
Thinking about how close he came to killing Ms Morisue made him feel sick.
''I think about that every day.''
His restorative justice meeting with her had been hard.
''Harder for her though. I wanted the chance, not just to apologise, but to talk to her about how I could help her.
''I said 'sorry'. Not that that was worth much.''
Given his past history, he knew people would regard anything he said with scepticism, but he believed the experience would turn his life around.
''I should have learned my lesson the first time. The fact this time I've hurt someone, so badly, I never want to drink again.
''It's the biggest mistake I've made.''
Ms Morisue had told him he needed to go to Alcoholics Anonymous, and he promised her he would.
''So I've started thinking maybe I do have a problem.
''You may not drink every day like you think a typical alcoholic does, but you go out and you can't stop drinking, you don't remember anything and you do stupid things.''
When asked what needed to change to stop people making the same mistakes as him, he said drink-driving did not carry the social stigma it deserved, ''especially here in Queenstown''.
''It seems like the norm - so many people are doing it. Someone told me on the first day I was in court there were 20 people there who'd been caught drink-driving.''
People needed to realise what could go wrong.
''You just think you're never going to be that person it happens to, but people can get hurt.
''I want to let people know, think before you do it. Don't get in the car, because it's not just you. It's all the other people you could be hurting - them, their family, their friends.''
Ms Morisue told the court on Monday she still suffered blurred vision, dizziness, acute anxiety, tiredness and had trouble sleeping.
She was not yet able to return to her job as a hotel waitress.
She felt Catlin's apology during their meeting was ''shallow''.
''He did not make eye contact with me for more than a few seconds.''
Catlin, who is in New Zealand on a working holiday visa, will be deported upon his release. He must also pay Ms Morisue $7500 in reparation, and will not be able to drive in this country for five years.
