Puzzling World

Our last try at flying to Milford was again a disappointment, but this time due to weather there. Oh well… Instead we stopped in town for coffee and muffins and let the kids play at the “dinosaur playground” they were dying to go to. There was also this huge hand that the kids climbed upon and a cool old tree that they decided was their “tree-climbers club” clubhouse. While we hung out there my parents explored the cute little town of Wanaka. We then went to the unique tourist attraction called Puzzling World. Although the American tourist jerk that wouldn't get out of our picture annoyed us all, we still had a great time. The main building had
four rooms each featuring different optical illusions. Outside there was this huge labyrinth. You had to find your way through the maze to the four different corners where there were these different colored towers, and once you did that you had to find your way back through to the exit. It was very tricky. There were emergency exits for those who didn’t want to persevere until the end. Again, I won’t mention names of those who cut out early through “emergency” exits, but let me just say that my mom, Zeke, and I were very proud to be the only ones in our group to stick it out until we got out the proper exit. As we left Wanaka we all agreed that we liked Wanaka a bit better than Queenstown as it is not as touristy and just a bit more quaint. We then left Wanaka to drive over to the coast. We stopped at a little café on the way where there was a basket of toys that the kids had fun playing with, but no food that Maddy or Zeke wanted. Luckily we had the makings for PB & J so they had that while the rest of us had sandwiches offered there.
We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge at Lake Moeraki in the late afternoon. It was a beautiful spot. It is a neat place where they are really into nature – they have guided walks, etc., but are not the most kid-oriented place. Tony and the girls went for a canoe ride while the rest of us hung around and plotted out our plans for the next few days. We had a really nice dinner there that night. Around 10 pm Tony and my dad went out for a guided walk along the state highway (They said that 2 cars went by while they were out for the half hour or so) to see glowworms. They said it was magic.

View pictures from our trip:
December Slideshow
January Slideshow