Wanaka

After the excitement of bungee jumping and seeing the festival in Arrowtown, it was time for one final trek for the day to Wanaka. It was only about 45 minutes away, so we didn't mind going later in the day.

To get to Wanaka, you have the option of going over the Crown Range or going on just major roads which takes longer. Since we were all about adventuring and scenic routes, we decided to drive to Wanaka via the Crown Range. I was fortunate enough to be able to drive. The first thing you do is just go up. Because you are going up pretty high, the road is super windy. There were times where I had to go like 10 mph or lower because I was basically making a sharp 180 turn. It was really fun though. Once we got to the top the view was absolutely amazing (just like everything else here in NZ).

You could just see hills everywhere and it was especially cool since everything was either green or in the process of changing to fall colors. Once we got to the top, we got to drive in between Crown Range (obviously) which was cool because we had huge hills on both sides of us. It was a very pleasant drive. We only passed like one tiny town on our way while we were up there. I can't imagine what it'd be like being so far from much civilization. I probably wouldn't like it. 

Once we got to Wanaka, we checked into our hostile and went and got some groceries. We didn't really have much planned in Wanaka besides Puzzling World which we were doing the next day. It turns out that John, Nathan, and Mitchell were also in Wanaka the same time as we were, so we went over to their hostile to see what their plans were. Believe it or not, their activity of choice was to go and star gaze. Therefore we all walked down to the lake where there was this huge tree stump. We all hopped up and perched on it like birds. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it because it was dark, but it was pretty fun. The stars were AMAZING. I have been able to see so many stars while I've been here but I don't ever just sit and look at them, so it was really fun just relaxing and enjoying them. We all just sat perched up on the tree for awhile and then once we started getting cold, the guys took us to one more spot to see what it'd be like. We ended up inside the bowl of a skate park. It was great because the wind was blocked and we could lie down inside. It's amazing how many more stars you can see by just walking five minutes away from town (Wanaka wasn't that big and there wasn't too much light pollution, so we really didn't have to go far here). We saw some shooting stars which were really cool and then the cold took over and we went back. It was a really enjoyable way to relax that night after our busy day!

We went back to their hostel for about ten minutes to figure out our plans for the next day and as we left, there were some people grilling sausages right out front of their hostel. They were giving them away for free so we decided to have one and talk to them. Eventually Shaina asked why they did that and they said "we're just a bunch of Christians who want to spread the word of God" or something along those lines. After that, they really just talked to us the whole time about religion. They asked us if we believed in God and if we prayed and a bunch of stuff like that. They were actually really chill people. I guess they switch locations every Saturday in Wanaka and then do the same thing once a week in Queenstown. They didn't force us to stay or force other people as they walked by to stop and talk. You could tell they were really just trying to do a good thing. Before we left one of the guys led a prayer wishing us safe travels and everything. It was pretty neat. 

Sunday was our only full day in Wanaka. It started off with my sister FaceTiming me at 6:45AM. Now normally I wouldn't mind this except for that morning I was in a hostel room with 5 other people I didn't know (and also Shaina and Courtney) who could also hear it ringing. I was really confused when it started ringing and didn't know it was mine going off. Then I accidentally answered the call because I didn't know how to end it which led to a lot of noise coming from my iPod. I just jumped out of bed (a top bunk of course) and ran to the hall. I don't know if I woke anybody up, but a bunch of them started stirring in their beds. I'm sure it wasn't that big of a deal, but living with a ton of other people I just know that some people may get really mad about that. Oh well In the end I was able to talk to Bobbie for a little bit which was fun and then go back to bed. I probably thought it was louder and more disruptive than it actually was.

After that, however, we woke up and got ready for the day. It was raining so we just walked around some of the shops briefly until lunch. We got fish and chips at a little cafe on the shore of the lake. The way they do fish and chips here in NZ (usually) is they just pile everything into a couple sheets of newspaper and then just wrap it up and give it to you. It looks pretty ridiculous, but it's efficient!

After lunch we picked up the guys and headed to Puzzling World!

Puzzling World was really cool. Basically it is a huge building with a bunch of illusion type things and things to trick your mind and obviously puzzles. The first room we walked through had a bunch of Holograms with different pictures. Then we got to go into the tilted house. This house was really cool because everything was tilted upwards. You could do different things inside the house like ride a chair "up" and roll a ball "uphill". This is just because what seems to be up is really down if you could see normal ground, but your perception is off while in the room. 

Although you can't tell, the floor is slanted and we are all standing at an angle. This is the inside of the house. In the picture below you can see Mitchell and Nathan standing "normally" and in the background you can the pool table where you could roll the ball uphill. After awhile, pretty much all of us started feeling really sick. I started feeling really dizzy inside the room. It's not moving around or anything, but I think your body can just kind of tell that it isn't upright. It was a really fun room to be in, but it was also nice stepping on level ground again.

After the tilted house we got to go to the biggest ever hall of following faces. There were six different famous people in a hexagon shaped room. Each side of the room was filled with the same face of one of the famous people. As I'm sure you guessed by it's name, everywhere you go it looks like the people are looking at you from all angles. It was really creepy. Even in my picture with Einstein you can see how he is looking at me from every picture. In reality the faces are all concave and look like they are just facing forwards. You're supposed to cover one eye and walk really slowly while looking at them. A ton of people kept running into each other because of this which was pretty funny.

 

Next came the Ames Room. This is similar to the effect in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I believe. Basically it makes you look either really big or really small. It's really cool seeing a video of someone walking from one side to the other. The wall behind us is straight I just think they mess with the ceiling to show the effect that it has. It's weird walking from one side to the other because you really do feel huge inside of it and then really teeny. It's an interesting concept.

The last hall to see inside was the sculptillusion hall. In this hall there were a bunch of sculptures that were illusions (I know the name really gives it away). I've seen some of the illusions in picture form, so it was really neat seeing them huge as sculptures. I thought this one of the man was cool.

Next to each sculpture there is a sign that gives the title of the sculpture and the description of the illusion. It's interesting to read because then you really know what you should be seeing. The picture below is of me in a phone booth that is basically like an infinity room. That same pattern was above me, so it looked like it went on forever above and below me.

This ball below was spinning with the wire around it spinning. It looked like the ball was just spinning in midair between this iron swirl. It turns out that the ball is connected to a small spot in the iron, and the iron is just spinning in the same spot.

I really wish I could have this sculpture below in my classroom. Although everything is concave in the object, it's rotating in a circle and when you see it from a certain angle, it looks like it is a cube. There are four different sides or colors to it. I thought it was cool and I think it would be a neat thing to have. It was kind of mesmerizing so maybe it would be a distraction in the classroom...

After finishing all of the indoor halls, we went to their lobby area. They had a ton of tables set up to sit at, and each table had little puzzles to be completed. Some of the puzzles were tangrams, some were mazes, and others were just those little individual puzzles and thinking games and brain teasers (like getting a block of wood to the other side by sliding pieces around it or removing a metal ring from a piece of string wrapped around some wood and things like that). We spent a good chunk of time just solving different puzzles and going to different tables to see the different puzzles. The workers at the front desk knew how to solve everything, so if you wanted to figure it out but couldn't do it on your own, they would show you! It was a very frustrating, but entertaining room to hang out in.

Last but not least, we had to complete the Great Maze. This was a giant maze outside (luckily it was only drizzling and not really raining) that you could choose to either do an easier or harder version of. We chose the longer one. On average it takes between 60 to 90 minutes to complete, so we wanted to finish before 60 minutes to say we're better than average.

The harder option involved having to go to the four different colored towers in a certain order: yellow, green, red, and blue. You can see the yellow and green towers in this picture. They do have a few bridges to go up onto to take a look at the maze, but they definitely didn't make it super easy to complete. We got turned around multiple times and had to retrace our steps and went in circles a few times. It was really fun, and it was't creepy like some corn mazes are. We were letting Mitchell lead the way, and we successfully completed the maze in 56 minutes...4 minutes better than average! We took selfies in each tower when we found them as evidence. It was a really enjoyable way to spend an hour. Plus it was good exercise! There was a sign that said people usually walk like 3 km before finishing the maze.

After the maze, there wasn't much else to do besides take pictures with the Leaning Tower of Wanaka. I know, I know, typical tourist. But at this point in time I don't know when I'll make it to Italy, so I figured I'd jump on the opportunity!

We were at Puzzling World for quite some time. This was honestly the only day (besides Milford Sound) that it rained, and it worked out perfectly that most of the activities here were indoors. We got so lucky with the weather it was unbelievable. Everything just seemed to work out for us.

After Puzzling World we went back to our hostile to eat dinner. Then we just hung out with John, Nathan, and Mitchell and planned our next adventure! We were all headed to Franz Josef in the morning to check out a glacier. Although I enjoyed Wanaka, I think it would have been really pretty in the summer time with nice weather. It seemed like there were a lot of fun activities to do in the water, and the beach seemed really nice. However, when we woke up the next morning and looked at the mountains, they were completely covered in snow! At least the tops were. It was so cool and the first time I've seen that much snow on a mountain. As we drove to our next location on Monday, I couldn't help but just stare at them. It was pretty hazy outside so the mountains weren't too clear, but we were definitely in for a treat when we got to Franz Josef!