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Published: September 11th 2009
Wednesday, September 9th
We survived another night in the wild. By the time we woke the Sandflies were out in full force again. The last time we went shopping we again forgot to get repellent, so we stayed in the van as much as possible and tried to keep the little buggers outside. After breakfast we left the Queenstown area, heading for Wanaka, a small town north of Queenstown. Graham and Rose had told us about it and we wanted to go check it out. Apparently it's like Queenstown but much less commercial.
En-route we detoured to Cordrona ski field. At the gate we picked up three girl snowboarders heading to the top. They told us how much the shuttle cost and we could not believe how expensive it is. It's cheaper to rent a car for the whole day than for one shuttle ride. Another 13km of gravel took us to the top and once we dropped off the gals we headed down to a parking spot. From here we walked up a steep snow covered hill to get some pictures. In places the snow was hard and in others soft, making the climb a slow and tricky affair.
This area is absolutely gorgeous! It looked like the nicest ski field we've visited so far. It's got wide runs with lots of ramps and rails. After enjoying the view and taking a ton of pictures we slipped and slid our way down to the van and continued on. Neither of us said it at the time, but later confessed that if one of us had suggested we go boarding we'd have done it right then and there.
We arrived in Wanaka and found it a beautiful small town, situated along the shores of the lake, with a nice suburban feel. We stopped by the lake and prepared lunch, then found a camping spot. We washed our bedding, had a shave and a shower, then took a bottle of red wine (a gift from Graham and Rose) and sat in the kitchen area to catch up with our blog.
While we sat there a huge cat wandered in. He wasn't fat, just really big. He quickly made himself comfortable on Talita's lap and stayed there. We also met an Israeli couple and sat chatting with them for a while.
When we wanted to make dinner we realized
Slipping and sliding down
A snowboard would be so much more efficient, wink wink, nudge nudge!that someone had stolen all our food and containers from the fridge! It felt like we were back in SA. What made it even worse was the crappy attitude we got from reception when we reported the theft. They could absolutely not have cared any less. We demanded a refund which they agreed to. We took all our remaining things and locked it in the van. Instead of leaving we decided to stay put for the night.
In no mood (and with little left) to cook, we walked into town, hunting for some Indian food. We found the place we were looking for and devoured a wonderful meal. We needed some good food to get the yucky taste out of our mouths.
Today's highlights:
1. Visiting Cordrona ski field.
2. Drinking wine with a big cat to cuddle.
3. Indian food for dinner.
Impressions of NZ:
Not so good today. Thursday, September 10th
Happy birthday dad Minty! Hope you have an awesome day and may God bless you with peace and happiness for all the years to come! After yesterday's events we were inclined to ditch Wanaka and move on, but after our quiet time
Back country
Every part of this place is used for fun decided that a small thing like getting robbed shouldn't spoil such a beautiful place for us.
So, we drove a few kilometers out of town to visit Puzzling World. This turned out to be one of the best value for money activities we'd done in NZ. We spent almost an hour walking around the Great Maze. It's a two storey labyrinth and the objective is to reach each of the towers located in the four corners, then find your way out again. After this we visited the holograph room where there are some truly amazing holographs. This was followed by a visit to a room filled with 3D faces (amongst others, Mandela) that seem to follow you wherever you go. Next was the perspective room. During the making of Lord of the Rings they used this technique to make the hobbits seem small compared to the humans. It's a great illusion! Then we visited a room where a ball appears to roll uphill and water appears to flow upward. We felt a little dizzy after that room. Your eyes just don’t know what to make of their surroundings, because everything it sees is a lie. It was great. On
the way out we bought a Turkish Puzzle Ring for Talita. It's a beautiful ring with four parts, all intertwined, that you have to fit together. Sounds and looks easy but is near impossible to put together without help.
Since our food supply was raided we had to stop by the supermarket to get more food and containers (an expensive little extra). With that done we drove to the Mount Iron walkway, just outside of town. We had lunch and then walked up the hill (it's not a mountain like the name suggests). It was a bit of a climb but we got great views of Wanaka as we went.
With our daily exercise completed we drove to our chosen camping spot outside of town on a different part of the lake. It was a beautiful spot and while Talita sat puzzling over her ring Ferdi played guitar. After our showers we made dinner and in the kitchen met a young French couple. Like the Germans we met in Queenstown, these two are also working their way through NZ. We sat chatting with them for hours, struggling to understand their accents and broken English. We must sound just
as strange to other travelers with our accent.
Today's highlights:
1. Visiting Puzzling World.
2. Climbing Mt Iron.
Impressions of NZ:
Queenstown is a fun place for a holiday but Wanaka looks like a nice place to live. Friday, September 11th
After a leisurely morning making pancakes and enjoying a bit of sun we drove into Wanaka where we walked next to the lake and explored (by accident) the rich part of town. Veeeery nice indeed.
Lately we've been struggling with the question of "our purpose in life", more than usual. Maybe it's being in this beautiful place. It awakens our desires and makes us wonder where we'll end up. Will it be here or some place else? Does it really matter, one way or the other? It's a little confusing, but luckily all the walks help us talk through our thoughts, even if we don't get to the answers yet.
So, after another soul searching walk we left Wanaka, heading for the west coast.
We drove along highway 6 and, according to our rental contract we won't be insured while driving on this road for the next 425km. In the month before we rented
our van they lost seven of their vans on this stretch of highway due to “Black Ice”. Being fully liable for any mishap we proceeded with extra caution. As we drove the weather deteriorated, the clouds came in and the rain came down. The terrain also changed from dry grasslands to dense alpine forest. A total change of scenery and very pretty.
We stopped for lunch at the Fantail Falls, and later stopped in Haast. We had planned to spend the night here, but it didn't look like much of anything, so we decided to continue on to Fox Glacier, another 123km away.
We arrived safely, checked into our camping ground, then drove to the Fox Glacier Guiding HQ. Weeks ago we'd decided to spend our dollars exploring the glacier (rather than do all the gazillion other things the South Island has to offer), but it was still hard to swipe that card. After some deliberation we decided on the full day package this coming Sunday. We just hope and pray the weather isn't too bad. This part of the world gets more than 200 days of rain per year.
Back at camp we made another amazing
curry dinner (we're Indian now as far as food goes), then laughed like crazy at a Jeff Dunham show. Damn that guy is gooood!
Today's highlights:
1. Arriving safely in Fox Glacier
2. Booking our Glacier adventure.
Impressions of NZ:
This part of the island is insanely wet.
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