I slept so well last night, mainly because my relatively new base hostel did not have squeaky bunks. Due to this I needed my alarm to wake up, although it did create a simultaneous array of alarms as everyone else had set it for the same time as agreed last night. With a 9am departure this morning, it was all pretty laid back having time for a long session in the disabled shower, a pie for breakfast and then one last stint on the free WiFi on the lake front.
By 9 we were all ready to leave, although there were 53 people and 50 seats which meant our driver did the dreaded register where he checked us all in formally. Luckily I was on the list and the people not on it had not booked their bus out of Wanaka. In terms of our driver this morning, I'll use my previous drivers description to describe him. A big black Maori beast with long black hair who looks like a gang member, but it is in reality a massive softy. To be honest that was a pretty good description, and after finally leaving Wanaka after all the booking problems I tucked into a pack of wafers which I had been craving since leaving Australia.
First stop of the day was just outside Wanaka to puzzling world which was something well up my street. We had the option of bacon butties here for an additional cost although I kind of wished they had told us before I had breakfast. In terms of puzzling world it was split into a variety of sections and I started with the illusions section. Split over five rooms, the first room had all these pictures of these holograms which were all in 3d. These included a rotating globe and even a bunch of bananas.
The next room was the tilted house which was a room with the floor at 15 degrees, but the objects within at a small opposing angle. Due to this it tricked our brain into thinking all these things were things that they weren't. For example there was waterfall which looked like the water was flowing up, and also this chairlift which when sitting at the top looked like the bottom, although it proved to us it was the top by rolling on it downwards. There was also this pool table which when standing at the end looked like an upwards incline, but when releasing the cue ball it rolled down the other end of the table. To finish the room they had this illusion wall which made us dizzy and resulted in us falling into the wall. The whole room messed with our brains and it felt weird when exiting the room.
The next room was the room of following faces which gave off the illusion that all these faces were staring at us. It was then into the Ames illusion room. The way it was set out meant that if you stood in one corner you looked massive, and in the other you looked tiny. There was a camera on a time delay to prove this and the difference was massive! The final room was the sculptillusion room which was a room full of these illusions in both 3d and pictures on the wall which was all very interesting. The highlights included this phone booth with a never ending drop below, and this big tap which gave the impression it was gushing out water.
When finishing in the illusion section, which had so many little things on the wall along the way, I made my way into the great maze. Designed to take a long time, the aim of the maze was to get to the four corners up the coloured towers, before finding the way back to the start. It wasn't long before I found my first corner, although from here I kept going round in circles and getting to dead ends. The maze was set in a small place although the fact it had bridges as well made it three dimensional. I did eventually find the four corners, although I couldn't find my way out afterwards! I kept going in circles and in the end through frustration I slightly cheated and took the emergency exit out of the maze.
To finish, in the main seating area there were lots of puzzles set out on the table to keep us busy. There were so many although I settled for the distinctive ones including this one with handcuffs, and this one related to writing the date with a twist. This kept us busy for a while, and when finally leaving we had one last chance to see the leaning tower of Wanaka, a tower which I still can't see how it stays standing! In all puzzling world was a very well spent morning and I glad I chose this over the free option of a hike up mount iron.
We then started our short drive down to Queenstown, with our first stop en route being in Cromwell to visit the exotic fruit market. The fruit here was so cheap and after a few samples I got myself a golden nugget (apricot x nectarine), a peacharine, a red peach and a nashi pear. The pear was surprisingly the nicest as it was so sweet. The next stop along was the Kawarau Bridge where we got our free inclusion to visit the secrets of bungy museum. This was the birth place of bungy being home to the worlds first commercial bungy site. It was nice to learn about the history here with AJ Hackett, as well as watching this all happen in action!
It was then one last push to Queenstown, arriving in by 3 to the so called adventure capital of New Zealand. With 228 activities on offer, I have to be very selective in what I do here. Queenstown is naturally the most expensive part of New Zealand as with just 20000 permanent residents it is more or less occupied by tourists much of the time. The first thing to do was check into the hostel, nomads, which was recently voted as the second best hostel in the world. It's hard to deny this to be fair with a decent kitchen, a massive common area, and free breakfast and dinner, even if it is only snack size. The only thing it lacked was free WiFi.
With no plans for the afternoon I just got a feel for the town which was packed full of tour operators and in town activities like a haunted house and maze. The thing the town lacked however was a proper supermarket with just a four square, and also a free WiFi hotspot. There were brilliant views down by the lake though looking over to the mountains, which included a so called beach. It was fun sitting here watching all the people parasailing from the imposing hill which was accessed by gondola.
When returning to the hostel I got my free hostel dinner which was tomato pasta, and I was sneaky enough to get two bowls. It was definitely snack size portions though. Part of arriving in Queenstown meant I got all these wristbands given for free entry and drinks at various places. This was all good although I found the beach to the best place which was really busy, and an area where drinking was allowed. In all it was a pretty good welcome to Queenstown, although it wasn't a late one, instead just maximising my freebies. It was nice to do something outside my hostels facilities for once. It was back to my hostel however eventually where I went straight to bed.
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