To get to Wanaka, we left Te Anau and had to drive for two hours back to Queenstown and then out another two hours. We accidentally turned onto the "scenic" road to Wanaka, which meant it would have taken an extra three hours over a mountain pass. Since we were driving at night, the scenic road would have been a waste anyway. We tested out my stick shift abilities with a three-point turn on a small gravel patch on the side of the mountain, and since I am now a stick shift beast, we got back to the correct route sans problems and with only a ten-minute loss. Booyah!

We arrived just outside of Wanaka a little after dark. We decided just to free camp before we got to town, so that in the morning we could drive right past the "The Puzzle Palace" before we headed into town.

The Puzzle Palace comprises a 3-D outdoor maze, illusion rooms, and a cafe with 20 different logic puzzles for customers to play with. We began with the 3-D maze. We had to get to each of four corner towers and back to the start by passing through a labyrinth of tunnels and bridges. It was harder than it looked, and when all was said and done, we walked well over 1km through the maze before we found our way out. At the beginning, Bev and I discussed starting at the same time and splitting off. I told her I was the man of the house and would win, at which time she punched me in the belly, took the car keys, and entered the maze. She's viscious. They have emergency exits for people who get frustrated. It looked tempting a few times, but we both finished fair and square.

After the maze, we were starving! We hunkered down in the cafe with a meat pie and all the puzzles we could get our hands on. The illusion rooms were the last activity at the Puzzle Palace, which include holograms and a variety of optical illusions, including an Alice in Wonderland room (the effect was used in Lord of the Rings) and a room that appears level but is at a 15 degree decline. The result is an unsettling feeling that you are moving downhill despite feeling like you should be level. Water flows uphill, you get dizzy, you can stand comfortably at an impossible angle to the ground, and you can sit in a chair that rolls uphill.

The illusion rooms were pretty fun, and we even took a second go around at the 15 degree decline. After getting nauseous from the illusion rooms, we killed way too much time playing with puzzles again. Finally, we left for downtown Wanaka after Bev had to drag me away (I will one day solve that @#$*#ing sheep puzzle).

We left the Puzzle Palace at around 4PM and arrived in town less than ten minutes later. It turns out there was a big arts festival in town call The Festival of Colours, so there was a good buzz around the area. We took a peek at a great photography exhibition by an aerial photographer who takes pictures overhead of amazingly beautiful or interesting scenes around the world. Check out Yann Arthus-Bertrand for more photos. His pics and presentation have a really cool environmental spin.

After checking out the outdoor photography exhibit, we grabbed a snack at a quirky theater cafe and watched the movie Blood Diamond. It was the first time we had seen a commercial flick in a full theater since we left the US, and it was a lot of fun. The theater had an outer cafe and one theater in the inner area. It had couches of all shapes and sizes, a VW beetle, and other places to sit and watch the movie. They stopped the movie halfway through for intermission, and if you ordered before the movie, your food would be waiting for you. If not, warm fresh-baked cookies were waiting, and they had great coffee to boot. They tried something like this in DC at a place called Visions, but it just didn't have the feel this place had. This place was cozy and had a great energy.

The next day, we spent our time catching up on some overdue errands before we headed out of town to the glaciers. We have about 1.5 days to do the glaciers and then meet up with some friends from DC on holiday (that's "vacation" for all you American folk) in New Zealand. We'll meet them just north of the glaciers in a town called Hokitika.