Day 23- November 25th

We left Wanaka for Queenstown this morning at around 9 which was not too bad. On the way we stopped and Wanaka Puzzling World, a tourist attraction which started out as a single maze, but has now expanded to add 5 illusions rooms, a cafe full of frustratingly difficult puzzles on the tables to solve, and some funky toilets.

So lifelike! (Mural of roman bathrooms in the toilets)

The optical illusion rooms include a set of rooms built at a 15 degree angle, which completely throws off your sense of balance, as there are no windows so you can't see the horizon to gain perspective.
My favourite room of all though was a perspectively confusing room, where people could stand at in different places and appear different sizes. It would be easier to show a photo, as it's very difficult to explain!

Roles reversed

We did have an attempt of the Puzzling World's famous maze, but with the knowledge that the record time is still over half an hour, we weren't filled with confidence. With every twist and turn and dead end, we became increasingly frustrated.

So happy before we got lost

In the end we gave up and left to have a go and the café puzzles instead, which were possibly even more frustrating.

Concentration faces

We got back in the bus and drove for another half an hour or so before stopping at Mrs Jone's fruit shop in Cromwell, a town well-known for its fruit production, which it celebrates by a huge sculpture of fruit, proudly displayed in its town-centre. I didn't like our driver anyway as he was sexist and sarcastic, but when he said we only had 5-10 minutes in this amazing fruit shop I liked him even less.

Fruit heaven

Our final stop before Queenstown was the AJ Hackett bungy centre. Queenstown is known for its extreme sports, but I didn't really have plans to do any. However, it was a gorgeous day and after seeing the promotion video that the centre showed us, I had the sudden urge to throw my self off a bridge. Which a bungee attached though, of course. I'm not sure what was quite going through my head, but for some reason I transitioned from having no interest in bungee jump, to booking myself into the Nevis jump, the highest bungee jump in New Zealand at 134m, 90m higher than the next one down offered by the centre. I had, however, just eaten lunch, and so decided to book in for the next day to be on the safe side.

Looking all inviting...

We finally arrived in Queenstown at lunch time and checked into our hostel. We actually didn't stay in the kiwi recommended hostel this time. When we were in Taupo, we were recommended the Adventure Queenstown hostel by our room mate. Adventure Queenstown was fully booked for the first 2 nights, but we managed to get rooms in her sister hostel- Adventure Queenstown 2- and then would spend the third night in Adventure Queenstown as AQ2 was fully booked for then. Safe to say all the faffing around with bookings was completely worth it. This was by far the nicest hostel we
have stayed at to date, and it was even cheaper than what we have been paying for the base and Nomads hostels- only 28$ per night!

Where's Wally? in the hostel toilets! How thoughtful...,

There were free towels, wifi, computers, Netflix and PlayStation in the living room, hi-tech kitchens, an iPad on the wall to choose your own music while cooking, and much, much more. And don't get me started on the beds. Even though we all were on top bunks in or 6 person dorm, each bed was in its own little pod with a little curtain to draw across, a little shelf with a power socket, and the softest mattress- even more comfortable than my bed at home!

So cozy

We went for a little explore around town, and then I decided to hike up Queenstown hill, as it's the top rated activity on trip advisor, but the others didn't come with me as they wanted to get ready for the bar crawl. It was sunny and surprisingly hot, and I got very hot carrying my heavy rucksack up the steep pathways, twisting up through the pine forest. Pine trees are actually an invader here in New Zealand. Brought over by the British colonists in an attempt to make the country feel more like home turf, they were planted here in Queenstown to give the place the feel of an alpine ski town, however the plants soon stifled native plant life by making the soil too acidic to grow anything else other than pine easily.
The views from the top were impressive- the surrounding mountain ranges, lake and Queenstown itself. Hikers here were very friendly and willing to chat as well.

I think I should end this post here as it's getting quite long. Goodnight!:)