Chapter 4: A Puzzleing Excursion to Wanaka

This post is dedicated to Hannah Kate, who loves Wanaka [pronounced like Wannakuh]

Newly equipped with a car (named Sammy, btw) Renee and Moose were able to have an excursion during a day when Renee did not have to work. Being quite excited to get away for the day Moose woke Renee up at 7:30am, though he did not succeed in prodding her out of bed until 7:50 at which point she grabbed a quick breakfast of Zucchini bread (made the day before, after work, out of boredom) and drove South, towards Haast Pass and Wanaka. The sun was not quite shining and the day was not quite clear and bright but Moose was ready to have an adventure! A little past Makaroa (just over the pass, and still not quite in cell reception) the sky started to clear up a bit and the mountains looked very pretty.

Although Renee wanted to stop and take a few scenic pictures along the way Moose was too excited and so no stops were made until arriving in Wanaka after roughly 2 hours of driving. Upon arriving in Wanaka Renee insisted on getting gas [petrol as they say here] since she was not sure just how close she was cutting it with the new car. After filling up (having to ask for help because in this country it is pump first, pay after) Renee [finally] took Moose to the main attraction for the day:

This intriguing place houses three main attractions: a room of puzzles, illusion rooms and the Great Maze. Walking in is a room with several tables of puzzles/brain teasers which are free(!) to play with/try and solve. It was still a little too early for Moose to be interested in using his brain though, so first Renee took him to the Illusion Rooms. They entered through the Hologram Hall which housed many fun holograms (a few of which gave Renee ideas for game mastering) though taking pictures of them proved...lackluster.

Following the illusion rooms was the favorite room for both Moose and Renee:

This room also did not take great pictures because most of the fun came from the contrast of the sloped floor and the true horizontal exhibits. Moose was fascinated by the uphill waterfall and the uphill slide which each he and Renee were able to ride. Renee got a video of Moose, though the effect is not quite the same.

After finding their feet on flat ground (well, true horizontal ground) the pair visited the Hall of Following Faces where 168 famous faces followed their every move. The favorite famous face was this handsome guy

Then Moose wanted to find the bathroom (or toilet as they say here) but it was so far away he gave up his search.

Next Renee and Moose tried to trade sizes in the Ames Illusion Room, but Moose was still too small, the illusion was not quite big enough for him, even with Renee crouching down a little bit :P

They very much enjoyed all of the sculptillusions though! Here are some of the favorites

What's holding up this bench?!

A never ending floor (in a phone-booth! Petunia is sad she missed this faux T.A.R.D.I.S.)

These bolts are actually flat, can you tell?

The alphabet, mirrored

Love and Hate, all in one

Following that it was time to attempt the Great Maze! Moose was so excited that he did not give Renee a chance to try and give them a timing for length but it is standard to take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours – depending on which challenge is attempted. Renee was feeling a little overly warm (because the sun FINALLY came out) and she had dressed for cold so they attempted the easier of the two challenges: make it to each of the four corner towers then find the end. It was pretty fun to be walking along and think the way was known and then suddenly run into a dead end. Never having attempted a life sized maze before Renee and Moose were quite intrigued and had quite a fun time wandering and finding all four corners.

Green!

Yellow!

Red!

Blue!

Before leaving Moose finally made it to the toilet

And just like everyone else Moose insisted on a picture with the leaning tower of Wanaka

The rest of the day was spent chatting with a few friends from home (because cell phone reception and internet!) and wandering around Wanaka. Oh and visiting a real grocery store which was quite exciting. The drive back looked to be warm so Renee treated Moose to some gelato, well, until she ate it all :P

The way back was fairly uneventful until reaching the Haast pass at which point they had to stop for a few minutes so work could be done. After that it was an easy hour back to the little house I currently call home.

XP: Kilometers from Haast to Wanaka + Average Kilometers walked in the Great Maze: 145

Chapter 3: In Which Haast is Introduced

So I promised I'd write about being in Haast, thing is there's not a lot to tell and so I've been having trouble coming up with a blog post. The township of Haast is really small: Three Hotel/Motel/Backpackers, One Grocery Store/Cafe/Laundry, One Cafe (where I work), One Tavern/Restraunt (which is open later than the cafe), One tourist store, and houses enough for ~40 people who live here. Walking across the town on the main road (which is a loop just off the highway) takes 10 minutes. Oh and there are also 2 payphones because there is no cell reception, no is there free wifi anywhere though there is a hotspot for which I pay to use about every week at a rate of $10/24 hours of access with a cap of 500mb of data. The township is just off of the Haast River (which is really wide) and there are some small mountains/large hills around.

Generally speaking I work 6-5 days of the week, finishing around 4:30 or 5pm at which point I usually eat dinner and watch TV (yay TV!), practice, read, and recently chat or play cribbage with my new roommates. Oh new roommates you say? Well yes, Ooh! I can tell you about the actual places I've been staying!

When I arrived it was cold, raining and pretty...disappointing, compounded by being told I'd be living here:

 As it turns out, it was better than I thought once I got situated and figured out when and how to open the windows for maximum airflow and minimal bug entrance. I got pretty well situated with my food in the “kitchen” although I used the kitchen in the container which was much better.

I also spent many enjoyable hours with my computer typing stories and whatnot at this lovely table

The bed was where I spent a lot of time reading and sleeping when I was not at work because sleep is nice, and bed is comfy :P

Overall the place wasn't that big but it was well suited for me given the bathroom and kitchen/living room in the container and lack of time outside of work.

The container was occupied by Jill, one of my coworkers, from Germany and she was lovely to share space with, and watch TV with. We got 4 channels and then the same 4 channels at an hour delay, ok, there were a few more but we never watched them cuz they were BOOORRRRIIINNNGGG, and/or in Maori... ANYWAY...Here are some pictures of the container:

 

When Jill left to go have grand adventures I was going to move into the container but then I was able to switch places with Davaniel (another coworker, from Canada) who was living in the staff house with Stuart and Tammy (the last 2 transient coworkers, from Northern Ireland). Thus I am now living in my own room in a shared house which is win because the kitchen is bigger, it is closer to work (2 min walk instead of 5 min) and I am living with other people which I very much enjoy.

There is a marked lack of shelving which is unfortunate, but luckily I am brilliant and my aunt sent me a VERY useful length of fabric:

 

This is the entry way, bathroom straight ahead, bedrooms to the right, kitchen to the left

The very large kitchen

 

which leads to the living room and TV (with the same 4+ channels)

Other news....I bought a car so that I can more easily travel around for my remaining time in Haast and because I want to have one for the second half of my year here with the thought that being more mobile will allow me a greater flexibility in job searching and ability to see more palces where a bus does not go as easily.

I bought it used from a guy named Sam in Queenstown when I visited there over a long 3 days off. I saw it parked on the side of the road with a sign listing a price that was within my budget so I called the number, did a test drive and then registered with the post office for $9 and drove away all sorted. It was surprisingly easy and now I have a car!

On that exciting note I will leave you for now with the promise of another post soon with more pictures of some of the walks around Haast that I can get to now that I have a car to get to them :D

Chapter 2: In Which a Town of Queens is Visited

The bus from Christchurch to Queenstown had a fancy see-through roof which would have been much more appreciated had it not been cloudy and with on-and off rain all day.

One might even say it was...Awesome....

This bus ride was, again, uneventful. Much of it was spent watching Doctor Who via tablet (yay technology!) though there was a nice stop at two very pretty lakes and the driver was full of interesting information which Renee has since forgotten.

Upon arriving in Queenstown Renee asked for directions but didn't listen very well and pretty promptly took a wrong turn and climbed up a very steep hill with all of her belongings (which are quite heavy all together). She finally found her hostel which was very nice and after placing everything in the shared room she walked Queenstown briefly and found the founder, and his sheep...

She then returned to her hostel with intents to...do... something? before venturing out again that night but instead got to chatting with one of the other hostel people, Andrew from Auckland and they ended up joining another hosteler for a drink with someone she had met earlier that day. Moose and Petunia and Elgamore stayed hidden, for some reason being fearful of new people, but Renee had a great time. The next morning she woke up early and, after finding food, decided to take a trip up the gondola and do some Luge rides! Moose and Petunia joined her (as much as they were able) and there was much fun had by all.

Captain Gravity!

On the way back, anticipating hunger and having learned a little about this magical burger place, Renee went to Fergburger (and then Fergbakery since she got hungry waiting for the burger and OMG best cream filled donut EVER!!!).

Here's the thing about Fergburger: It's got that magical atmosphere that restaurant people dream of, it's always busy, people come from everywhere to eat there and there's an indescribable vibe around it because of those things. Many people have called it the best burger ever, people talk about it as a must for Queenstown. They open at 8:30am (way too early for a burger) and close at 5:00am (also too early for a burger) and the wait is almost always an hour, if you're lucky enough to go at a time when there isn't a line (and wait) to order.

The kitchen is SUPER tiny and packed with people each doing one job so that no one gets in each other's way. It looks like the most fun and the most terrible job ever, in a good way....working in food service has clearly given Renee a strange view on these things. I( loved watching what I could of the kitchen while I waited for the last 15 minutes being unable to keep walking around any longer). I had the option of 2 different veg burgers: Falafel or Tempured tofu. Deciding to be adventurous Renee ordered the Tempured tofu with spicy satay, coconut and coriander sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, snowpea shoots and aioli – called the Holier than Thou.

Renee shared a tiny bit with Moose and Petunia (since they asked so nicely) and was quite pleased with the purchase. One of the greatest parts is the homemade bun from Fergbakery next door. It was certainly a unique burger and one Renee would happily eat again, as for it being “The Best Ever!” not so sure, but certainly worth a visit for the atmosphere! So much so that Andrew wanted one and so there was a second excursion later that night so he could get one.

This time there was preparation for the wait time and the ONE THING Renee KNEW she wanted to visit while in Queenstown was visited. Hello CookieTime Cookie Bar.!!! :D (in case you don't know, CookieTime cookies are these incredible pre-packaged cookies that taste really quite amazing and they're made in NZ and I love them...a lot...it's a bit of a problem....)

Fudge Brownie cookie with Hot Cocoa, total win, and the CookieTime Cookie Muncher!! It was so good and such fun that there was a return trip later that night (after the burger) for more cookies (and stickers!!)

IMG 2682, 83

Queenstown was great, meeting other people was fantastic!

The next morning was rainy as was the bus ride to Haast....(See next post)

XP: # of cookies Renee ate: 4