Hopeful kiwis both here and abroad logged on early in the morning to register to go in the lottery only to see their number put somewhere in the 20 thousand range for only 3200 available MIQ spots. 

And only another 7000 rooms will be released before the end of the year.  

The queue got as high as 31,800, a pretty quick way to demoralise anyone who had any hope of getting home in the next few months when you see that number pop up on the screen.   

One of those people is Penny Smith - Penny and her husband are in Sydney and had a flights booked before the bubble burst and have been trying to get home ever since. 

Penny Smith joined Mike Hosking.

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