Syd mark II
Trip Start
Nov 05, 2002
1
47
69
Trip End
Aug 13, 2003
Lake Wanaka,
New Zealand
Saturday, June 7, 2003
As so with the Willie Nelson song 'On The Road Again' ringing in our ears we were mobile again with kitchen and bed in tow! Now the only problem we had was deciding where to go. Decisions decisions.
First stop north of Queenstown was Lake Wanaka, a one hour drive away across the historic Crown Range. Set on the southern shores of New Zealand 's fourth largest lake, Lake Wanaka is in a spectacular setting, surrounded by the mountains of the Southern Alps and gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park. The town itself is a quiet, relaxed lakeside resort that has retained its New Zealand charm. Although we spent less than a day here the place was a real highlight due to the beautiful setting, the Cinema Paradiso and Puzzling World! Lake Wanaka was also the first van park in New Zealand we stayed in and quickly learnt that the standard of the New Zealand parks are not as high as the Australian parks! Aggh well, I'm sure we'll be able to live with it.
Cinema Paradiso, described in Lonely Planet as a "must do" and as a truly a unique and memorable movie experience, is a small classic movie theatre with comfy old sofas, seats in an old Morris Minor, a cafe and bar serving delicious meals before, during or after the movie, homemade ice-cream and hot cookies for intermission and a warm welcome from the friendly patron who introduces the film with Celtic flair! We saw the film Adaptation there and as a fan of the movies it certainly was a different experience!
Puzzling World was as you'd expect. It's full of eccentric shaped buildings and puzzling rooms. We really liked the Illusion Room, including the hologram hall, the Hall of Following Faces, the Ames Forced Perspective Room and the Illusion Tilted House. Excellent fun!. The Great Maze, dubbed as the first of the world's modern-style great mazes, is two storeys high and has 1.5 kilometres of confusing passages. Seemingly it is NOT designed to be the most difficult in the world - that would be extremely boring for most people. It is designed to take between thirty minutes and one hour to achieve - quite adequate for the average person. There are emergency doors for those with limited patience and suffice to say we bailed out! Tut tut!
Hey, we have to hit the road. The West Coast beckons!
Dave and B
