TWIZEL

WEDNESDAY 11th MAY

When I woke up this morning and drew the curtains I had a clear view of the Thomson Mountains behind Lake Wakatipu.  I decided to get up and packed my gear in the car and drove down a few hundred yards to a car park right on the edge of town and paid 50 cents for an hour's parking.  I was done much quicker than that, but I did not begrudge the parking fee.  A beef sandwich from Subway and four more boxsets of Midsommer Murders for £15.00, and I was on my way to Wanaka.  On the outskirts of Queenstown I topped up with petrol although the tank showed just under three quarters full - here in New Zealand you never seem to know when you will see another petrol station, so better safe than sorry!

 Just past Lake Hayes I took a sharp left turn and rapidly started ascending the Crown Range on the Cardrona Valley Road - well I'm not sure if it is called that as you climb the range, but it is once you get down the other side.  There were numerous lookout points on the journey through the mountains and I took advantage of most of them.  It also enabled the cars that would build up behind me to shoot past at their suicidal speed, whilst I was quite quite happy to drive slowly (and safely) and take in the views.

 Again there were fields teeming with sheep, a few with cattle and some with deer.  Apparently when they tried to cull the deer some years ago, they discovered a ready market for venison in Germany, and now deer are farmed for this market.

 Eventually I got to the top, but before going over the top (to coin a WWI phrase), I cast a glance back towards Queenstown.

                                 And the looked in the opposite direction.

 The journey down was equally spectacular and quite a hairy drive as had been the ascent, whilst the scenery was never less than enthralling.

 After driving through the Cardrona Valley - the river starts as a small stream in the mountains and grows into a sizeable river by the time it reaches the other end of the valley.  There was the odd winery enroute and again sheep.  Finally I sighted Lake Wanaka as I started coming downhill into Wanaka itself.  I drove into the town centre (about three streets in total), and parked up and decided to explore.

I came down to the shore of the lake and as with the waters in Queenstown, was amazed at the clarity of the water.  There was a bench conveniently situated on the shore and I sat down in the filtered sunshine and took in the serenity of the location and took a picture.  The sum total of my perambulations around Wanaka was the purchase of three postcards.  I returned to my car and set off for Twizel via Tarras and Omarama (what with Osama, Obama and now Omarama no wonder I'm getting confused!).  However on the outskirts of Wanaka my attention was drawn to a leaning tower, which signaled the entrance to Stuart Landsborough's PUZZLING WORLD.

 Apparently the clock on the tower was set to Midnight on the 1st January 2000, and it runs backwards, back into the 20th century!  No less amazing is the towers position, it puts the Leaning Tower of Pizza to shame!  I paid my $12 and went in.  Jim would have been in his element as there were loads of books on illusions, and various puzzles to solve.  However I passed all those by and went into the 4 Illusion Rooms.  How could I be leaning and standing up straight at the same time?

                                How could water run uphill after discharging from a tap?

 The Ames Illusion Room looks completely normal from a window on the outside, but when you go in the floor tiles aren't square at all and the floor and ceiling slope relative to each other.  If you stand in one corner of the room you look like a giant, if you stand in the other corner you look like a dwarf.  Apparently this illusion was used in the the film Lord Of The Rings.

                               How many legs has this elephant got?

                                How many animals can you see below - it should be six.

This Hall of Fame was quite amazing.  The sculptured heads are concave if you go right up close, but if you step back they appear convex, and as you walk past each head it appears to swivel and follows you as you walk past!

This is an ancient tapestry that gives the impression of 3-D Rubic's cubes if you stare at it long enough!

 This was one of many holograms in the Hologram Hall which has the world's largest display of 3D hologram photos.

                        And finally we have the Roman toilets in the entrance to the real WC's!

 After completing my visit to the Gents section of the toilets, I hit the road for Tarras following the Clutha River past Wanake Airport where there was an aircraft museum, but in the event I drove straight on past it.

I then turned left and went through the Lindis Valley, and on past the Lindis Peaks, to Omarama.

 There I stopped for a cup of coffee and a croissant, before resuming my journey to Twizel.  There was another lake on the outskirts of the town, albeit a much smaller one than the ones I had previously encountered on this journey.  It is called Lake Ruataniwaha as far as I can make out.  I phoned Scott who gave me directions to the motel he is staying and where he had booked me accomodation.

 The Aspen Court has lodged me in a massive livingroom with adjoining dining/kitchen area, a separate bedroom with two beds and a bathroom with a massive spa bath which I took full advantage of this evening.  There is also a DVD player along with telly, so I may watch some of my purchases.

 I took a look at the view outside and awaited the arrival of Scott.  It was his turn to cook, and he invited me over to share their fare with Phil.  It was an excellent bit of grub, chicken chasseur with mashed potatoes and veg.

 By about 8.30pm I popped out to get the map out of the car and found a light dusting of snow on the ground.  However later it started raining.  Tomorrow I should be heading towards Mount Cook.