Wanaka

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I caught the bus from Fox to Wanaka in appalling weather; it stayed this way for the entire trip. I had been told that Wanaka is in the most wonderful setting with many tall peaks surrounding the town. I could not see any peaks when I arrived. Of note was a salmon farm that we stpped at along the way where I got some great smoked salmon as a starter for the evening. I also bumped into Joseph that I met in Auckland so it was interesting to find out what he' been up to.

Wanaka is most definately an outdoors type of place so it was a little hard to find things to do on a rainy day. However, I was told to get out to the airport as there are a few museums and one or two other things to do.

A couple of American lads who were staying in my dorm gave me a ride out to the airport outside of Wanaka. I visted the Toy & Transport Museum which is the most amazing collection of junk ever. There are many old cars, a few old planes and loads of old collectable toys such as Star Wars, Lego, Barbie and Action Man. It is a huge collection in spread over four large buildings. I later wandered round to the Wanaka Beerworks brewery which is also on the site. I was given a tour of the brewery (which didn't take very long, it is the most micro of micro breweries) and samples of the four beers brewed on site. The guy that runs the place seemed to be very knowledgeable and had just come back from a holiday (or perhaps a research trip) to the Czech Republic. My favourite was his wheat beer that had distinctly banana-ery overtones.

On the way back to Wanaka I stopped at Puzzling World. This is a combination of a number of rooms each containing a different visual effect. My favourite was the tilted room where everyting appeared to roll uphill. Also on the site is a large outdoor maze and as it had more or less stopped raining by this time I spent an hour or so becoming more and more frustrated at not being able to find the exit.

I visited cinema paradiso in Wanaka which is a great cinema with the seating made up of couches, sofas and laz-e-boys. The best cinema I've been to for sure.

The weather was much better the next day when I played golf in the morning and went for a walk up Mt Iron in the afternoon. Golf was with a British couple who were rather good and embaressed me with their superior game; but it was fun all the same. The walk up Mt Iron was really good and the views from the top were spectacular.

I had been told about the Banana Cream Pie in a cafe in town by Ken, a Japanese guy in my dorm, so I stopped on the way back; it was really good and can endorse his recommendation fully.

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Comments

[Stef]

Wanaka!
...but enough about you! only joking, glad you seem to be having a good time.

[jcwbudworth]

cheers stef. It'as all good. NZ is a grat place to visit.