Whoop whoop after a month on the Gringo Magic bus we finally break the mould and head of the beaten track and stop at Wanaka. Wanaka is in the same district as Queenstown and only a few miles out but from what we have heard its like a whole other world! Wanaka is a small quite town with a few more shop and bars than Fox and Kiakora but smaller than most towns. We arrived in the afternoon after a long bus ride, we just don't have the bus ride stamina anymore! This ride in particular was starting to get to us as it was really hot and stuffy on the bus and we were zooming around very windy roads with large drop offs on one side. We did however stop for a few nice photo stops and the odd walk here and there but all in all we were glad to be off the bus. We had been good again and booked ahead to get the cheapest room but we were unlucky as due to the size of Wanaka there wasn't that many options on accommodation. We got dropped off at the Purple Cow which had won awards for being clean and organised so we were kinda looking forward to settling in. We checked in and walked to our room, now this walk is always a nervous walk (I am not sure if I can compare it to walking to your prison cell where you have to spend the rest of your life but we had a good few days here!) all you think is will it be clean? What will our room mates be like? And will I fit in?

We were very pleasantly surprised to find our 6 man doorm was like log cabin, with an ensuite, little kitchen and a TV! As we were first in the room we got first choice of beds so we carefully choose our beds competently unpacked everything without realise and totally took over the room. We cooked some dinner while the rest of the room had it finishing touch's as there were a few staffing issues in the hostel. Seeing an opportunity to save a few pennies I asked the cleaner if Becki and I could help out in exchange for our board, she said she would talk to the manager and let us know. With this in mind we called a few places in Queenstown to ask if they do the same deal but unfortunately they only offer this deal to long term people and that's what the Purple Cow said to :( oh well if you don't ask!

After settling in we decided it was laundry time otherwise we would be supporting the real travelling naked looked! We spent the rest of the afternoon doing boring but necessary job and decided to treat ourselves to some yummy food for dinner. We went crazy and brought two salmon steaks however our fish cooking skills are fairly limited and we were worried we almost gave ourselves food poisoning but then we remembered sushi so we decided it was our mind playing tricks on us. Our first night ended up being chilled out and we fell asleep to a film.

After waking late in the morning and our standard chocolate spread on toast we were ready to face Wanaka. The night before we had read up on the town and we decided we would walk to an puzzle/illusion museum. The walk was a good 30 minutes or so but when we arrived we got all excited as there were lots of photo opportunities to be had! We tried to take a few of us holding the tower and us pushing it over but there were way too many people to get a good one. We went inside and paid our entrance fee and started the brain games. The first hour we spent sat in the coffee area and played with all the puzzles trying to make shapes, move things without actually moving them and building cubes with strange shaped bricks. As you can imagine I soon got bored of not being able to do them and Becki started to get annoyed to so we went into the 3D room.

The room was full of different 3D pictures which all moved but some did even more as you moved from left to right the picture created a different meaning. We got fully involved and got excited and ooohhh and aaaarrrrr lots! We continued on through to upside down and inside out pictures which were very strange as you looked at it you could see lots of different stories and different movement (I am sure this art has a name and I am sure they would have told us it but I was clearly not listening as I have no idea!) We then went to a room full of face that followed you as you moved, then we went to the camera angle room. This was really cool and you saw how Lord of the Rings were filmed, If I stood at one end of the room and Becki at the other and someone took a picture it would come out like I was a giant!

Our last room was the strangest and we had to leave as we both felt sea sick and extremely drunk. The floor was set at an angle which ment when you stood up it looked like you were stood at an angle. It competently messed with your head as balls rolled uphill, you went upstairs before you went down and the spirit level was set at an angle but still showed the level being straight.

After leaving the illusion rooms we headed to the maze, child's play I hear you say? That what we thought! The challenge was to find each colour corner and most people take 30-60 minuets and we did it in 10! Feeling extremely proud of ourselves we tried to walk to the exit with our head held high. 45 minutes later and a few arguments had we were out with our heads held low as we saw some children who had started with us already out eating lunch. Last stop a quick wee before we left, to keep in spirit with the whole place the toilets were at an angle and made into Roman baths!

That night we cooked some yummy food then went for an evening walk before the hostel film night started where we watched a very strange film. We played some cards and fell asleep as we had walked our socks off and we planned to do the same again the next day. We woke up, packed our bags and checked out ready to walk around the lake but the weather over night had changed and it was raining :( now we know a little rain doesn't hurt anyone but when you only have one pair of trousers it kinda restricts you. So we stayed in with the aim to find a free WIFI café and upload a few blogs to keep mother Courtney happy!