NZ- tuesday

we woke up in our backpacker’s stay. there was still a lot of food from holly’s mom and our grocery shopping, so we made an amazing breakfast of it. the kitchen was communal and had great facilities, as well as other travelers. we made a small tour of tekapo by daylight, though the weather kept us pretty confined to the car.

we made a couple of stops before lunch. toilet, sight seeing, snow seeing, small town viewing, and brake resting (the mountain pass road was rough on holly’s car). we were at lake wanaka in time for lunch. . . and my first pie of the trip.

i had been promised a bounty of meat pies. i was told they were sold on every corner store and i was told which brand not to eat. but so many of our meals were specifically planned- dinner with a family or at someone’s favorite place, or something i just had to try. i loved it all, but i was missing out on the pies. so in wanaka i was promised a pie. wouldn’t you know, the first two places (where i would’ve been happy to eat) didn’t have pies! inconceivable! then we were on a mission. . . had to go to the actual pie place. i went for something i haven’t had much, if at all. . . mutton. not the best choice, it was just one big greasy mutton sausage encased in pie pastry. . . oh well, they can’t all be winners. alas, my pie eating began. . .

the town reminded me of other lake shore resort towns. . . quiet, but always open for tourists. we drove around the lake a little and found a lovely quiet spot to view the lake and snap off some pictures. it was still cloudy, but slightly less drizzly, which meant the outdoor maze at puzzling world might be a viable option. (of course we also made a quick stop to pick up some spirits for toasting later that evening. they didn’t have the exact whisky i was looking for, but the bartender. . . and his accent. . . talked me into a house favorite.)

puzzling world was a blast. the outdoor maze was more difficult than i expected. exasperating at times, though it was easy to pick up a laugh when everyone around you was having just as difficult a time. we must have brushed shoulders with one family a dozen times. each time they were searching for a tower we had already finished and they had come from the tower we were trying to find. there was a group of friends racing each other. . . it would make a great spot for scavenger hunts and group activities. i was pretty glad when we had completed the whole thing and could take a few minutes to do some table puzzles before hitting the illusion rooms. they didn’t disappoint either, though my camera’s focus decided to take the afternoon off and left most of my pictures fuzzy.

before long we were back on the road to queenstown. the skies were looking more and more clear, and we were in sometime around dusk. our hotel was in a gorgeous setting. we got settled in and then headed out for dinner. cam and holly showed me around the downtown area. there was plenty to choose from, but in the end we got taken in by a boy with an irish accent. they had him out front wooing people in with the dinner specials and his brogue. we bought it hook, line, and sinker thinking there would be more irish eye candy inside. . . nope. the food was really good though and with a couple drinks, we laughed it off.

back in the hotel we relaxed. i did laundry, we hit the hot tub and even tried the sauna for about three minutes. too hot! then back to our room to fall asleep with the olympics in the background.