Boggling the Brains at Puzzling World

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Day 524 (3.9.08)

We woke to another pretty miserable day but that didn’t dampen our spirits as we were off to Puzzling World where we would challenge our brains and perceptions with mazes, puzzles and illusions on a grand scale. We entered past the extremely leaning tower of Wanaka and couldn’t resist the typical photo opportunities.

Having paid our very reasonable entrance fee we went into the first of the illusion rooms, this filled with an incredible collection of holograms. Next we went into the faces room which is coated with the faces of famous people made in such a way that when you walk past or move up and down the faces appear to follow you - spooky and very Scooby doo!

The next room on our mind boggling journey was the tilting room where water runs up hill, chairs slide towards the ceiling and you appear to stand at very unusual angles - taking pictures in here was extremely confusing!

The last of the illusion rooms used tricks with perspective enabling you to change quickly and seamlessly from giant sized to ant sized - check out the pictures.

After a quick stop in the interesting toilets (yes, not even the loos here are exactly what they seem!) we decided to try and wait out the rain by having a drink in the café (although we don’t usually stop for coffee) thoroughly entertained and confused by the puzzles placed all over the tables. We finally had to drag Mike away, puzzle unfortunately incomplete, so that we could tackle the great maze whilst the rain held off.

We split into two teams for the maze challenge, a huge, 2 storey affair in which you had to visit each of the four coloured corner turrets before getting back to the start again. The Older Hay wards' set off with the ‘taking time to decipher the maze’ plan in mind while the Younger Hay wards’ raced off with the ‘running around crazily and hoping for the best’ strategy. Rather surprisingly the second strategy seemed to work best but we don’t how! A very fun maze and overall a highly entertaining way to spend a morning/afternoon/day!

We left with a walk around some of the shores of Lake Wanaka in mind but it was misty and raining again so we didn’t think it would really be worth it. We had a quick bite to eat, a brief stop for some beer tasting at the Wanaka Beerworks and were on our way again.

We were headed back into wine country again with the Central Otago region famous mostly for its Pinot Noir. We stopped just outside Cromwell at a place called the Big Picture where we took part in the Wine Experience. This involves an aroma room and then a film. The film shows an aerial view of the region and ‘stops in’ at several wineries on the way past. You meet the owner or manager of 5 different wineries who talk you through their wine which happens to be sat on the table in front for you to sample - an interesting way to take a wine tour!

Having found a place to stay in Cromwell we went out to wander around the historic old town which features buildings rescued prior to the old town being flooded when a dam was created.

We completed the day by eating some of the excellent salmon we’d bought at the salmon farm the day before.

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