Brazilian Evellyn Hitori Maeda Magahlaes was driving to Queenstown on November 19 when her car hit Philip Watson's Triumph motorcycle on State Highway 8 between Lindis Pass and Tarras.
It was the day before his 65th birthday.
Maeda Magahlaes, 29, pleaded guilty in February to a charge of reckless driving causing death.
At her sentencing in the Queenstown District Court today, several members of Mr Watson's family read emotional victim impact statements, although their contents were suppressed by Judge David Ruth.
Police say the defendant left Auckland two days before the crash to pick up her brother from Queenstown Airport, and spent the night in Cheviot, North Canterbury.
As she looked at a navigation app on her phone on the dashboard about 8.45am, she swerved into the opposite lane and collided head-on with Mr Watson.
He died on the spot.
Prosecutor Ian Collin said the defendant told police in her first interview that she had only slept four hours the night before the crash.
At the time of the accident, she had already been driving for five and a half hours.
Her decision to drive while sleep-deprived was a causal factor in the crash, Sergeant Collin said.
He demanded a prison sentence, a driving ban and compensation.
Defense lawyer Bryony Shackell said police had focused on the amount of sleep the defendant had had, but her initial comments to police had been made under the influence of powerful drugs she had been given for her own trauma.
A subsequent check of messages to family members revealed that she had slept six and a half hours the night before the crash, and nine and a half hours the night before.
There was no evidence that the defendant's driving before the crash was “anything but exemplary”, Ms Shackell said.
She asked for a community order, saying the defendant was a “kind, caring and generous” person, with a nursing qualification, and no previous convictions in New Zealand or elsewhere.
Maeda Magahlaes was not in a position to offer compensation as her visa status since the accident meant she had not been able to work.
She had no savings and relied on financial support from family and friends.
Judge Ruth told the victim's family that even a life sentence wouldn't bring Phil back.
He asked them to think about what Mr Watson would have done if he had represented the defendant.
''He would have done everything in his power to advance his case; that was the kind of man and lawyer he was.”
The defendant had not been speeding, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or broken any laws, but had driven her car down the road while distracted.
Hands-free devices were no guarantee of avoiding distraction, and few drivers could claim they weren't similarly distracted.
“This should be a cautionary tale for all of us.”
He told the defendant it was “more luck than good management that none of us face what you face.”
He imposed 150 hours of community service on her and banned her from driving for twelve months.