On the road again...

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Just like anywhere else in New Zealand I find it very hard to travel very long without having to stop and capture the scenery on camera! From Fox my first photographic opportunity came at a beautiful bay called Bruce Bay, a driftwood-strewn beach which is perfect for a stroll, gazing across the Tasman Sea. I had already visited Lake Paringa just 7km south so I could justify passing through, and followed the Haast Pass through the rainforests of the West Coast, stopping briefly at Thunder Creek Falls and Cameron Flat.

I remembered Lake Hawea to be particularly lovely and, already missing the delicious food at Scenic Circle, took the opportunity to sample the seafood chowder and handle of Speights in a restaurant there before landing in Wanaka for the night. As you can see from the photos, Lake Wanaka is equally picturesque. I stayed in a backpackers called the Purple Cow that had been recommended to me and, as I was browsing through my copy of the Rough Guide at activities in and around the area, the shuttle bus for horse-trekking pulled up outside. It was a completely spontaneous desicion to ask if I could join them and my flexibility paid-off as over two hours of trekking on Appaloosa horses exploring the historic and scenic Cardrona Valley was definately a highlight of my trip.

While in Wanaka I also took time out at Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World - www.puzzlingworld.co.nz
challenging myself to complete the Labyrinth and being fascinated by the ''Ames Forced Perspective Room''. The technique of the illusion was used in The Lord of the Rings films to create big and small people. The shape of the room is totally distorted although when viewed from outside through a window, the room looks normal, yet the people inside look either very tall or very short! The room is filmed on a loop so that it's possible to watch yourself become a giant and then a dwarf! In the cafe area there are all sorts of puzzles to occupy a couple of hours in a chilled-out atmosphere, it's just shame it's not accompanied by a decent coffee. Also the bookshop is cramed full of mensa-testing type puzzles which I loved.

A quick explanation about the bra fence on the farmers fence at the side of the road at Cardrona : basically no-one really knows how and why it all started but I believe it demonstrates a very real Kiwi sense of humour, which is apparent in many other ways around the country, for example the "Fairlie Hefty" all-day-breakfast on the menu in a cafe in a small town called Fairlie in Canterbury!

You can read more about how the locals feel about the bra fence at http://www.snowfarmnz.com/index.cfm/Bra_Fence_Story

I'm off now to do more sight-seeing....

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