Makarora
After Josef Fritzl, we stopped for the night at a place called Makarora, which was basically a hamlet in the middle of nowhere, with a hostel, a farm and a petrol station. I loved this place - it was so rugged and wild...
Middle of nowhere horse
The only downside to my experience of Makarora was that I had the song, 'Macarena' stuck in my head the whole time I was here.
Macarena - I mean, Makarora, also marks the beginning of the beautiful stretch of road leading to Wanaka, which runs alongside two gorgeous glacier lakes - Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. This photo really doesn't do justice to the sheer beauty of the area...
...but when you are actually there, it's this sheerly beautiful, times ten.
Wanaka
Wanaka is a lakeside resort an hour's drive from Queenstown. Being so close to the adventure capital of the world, I decided it was time to do some kind of dangerous, adrenaline-fuelled activity again, and signed myself up for an hour's jet boating. WOOOOOO!!!!
....Unfortunately, it was really quite boring - disappointingly tame. I think if you took the term 'jet boating' and removed the word 'jet', you would get something closer to the actual experience. Look at the driver - not even bothering to look where he's going, it was THAT slow:
Somewhat more remarkable was my visit to what is possibly the most amazing tourist attraction on the planet: the fantastic Puzzle World...
Wow, such bamboozling trickery...
...we just couldn't figure it out.
Puzzle World also has the WORLD'S FIRST two-storey maze. As someone who regularly can't find my way around my own house, I found this an extremely upsetting experience, and had to leave via the emergency exit.
Queenstown and Christchurch
Queenstown and Christchurch were really just pitstops for me this time around - I had to zip back up to Wellington post haste, to catch my flight to Oz - so there's not much I can tell you about these places.
One interesting fact that I picked up, however, is that the earthquake in Christchurch - in which no one lost their life - measured exactly the same on the Richter Scale as the one in Haiti - in which some 200,000 people died. That's pretty crazy stuff.
It was interesting to see some of the recent earthquake damage, including:
cracked buildings...
...actually, I am pretty sure this last may have been just a regular building site. The important thing is that it adds to the effect.
My final couple of days in New Zealand were so cold, rainy and windy, I simply couldn't wait to get to Oz, where I knew the warm embrace of the Antipodean sun awaited me.
Sunglasses, shorts and flipflops at the ready, I leapt with vigour onto the plane at Wellington airport, my heart fluttering as I anticipated basking under blue skies, skipping across yellow sands and splashing in turquoise seas. On landing in Brisbane, I scampered through the airport, slathering on suncream as I ran, and hurled myself onto a bus headed for Byron Bay, hurrah!
...only then did I look out of the window, and take note of my new surroundings...
Do I miss England: Come on now - does England have Puzzle World...?! Or Sheepworld, even?! How I ever lived without these things is beyond me.
After Josef Fritzl, we stopped for the night at a place called Makarora, which was basically a hamlet in the middle of nowhere, with a hostel, a farm and a petrol station. I loved this place - it was so rugged and wild...
Middle of nowhere road
Middle of nowhere gas station
Middle of nowhere horse
Middle of nowhere accommodation
The only downside to my experience of Makarora was that I had the song, 'Macarena' stuck in my head the whole time I was here.
Macarena - I mean, Makarora, also marks the beginning of the beautiful stretch of road leading to Wanaka, which runs alongside two gorgeous glacier lakes - Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. This photo really doesn't do justice to the sheer beauty of the area...
...but when you are actually there, it's this sheerly beautiful, times ten.
Wanaka
Wanaka is a lakeside resort an hour's drive from Queenstown. Being so close to the adventure capital of the world, I decided it was time to do some kind of dangerous, adrenaline-fuelled activity again, and signed myself up for an hour's jet boating. WOOOOOO!!!!
....Unfortunately, it was really quite boring - disappointingly tame. I think if you took the term 'jet boating' and removed the word 'jet', you would get something closer to the actual experience. Look at the driver - not even bothering to look where he's going, it was THAT slow:
Lame.
Somewhat more remarkable was my visit to what is possibly the most amazing tourist attraction on the planet: the fantastic Puzzle World...
Wow, such bamboozling trickery...
...my mind was so very boggled...
...how DO they do it...?
...we just couldn't figure it out.
The most incredible thing of all was that they somehow created the illusion that it was 1986, and that we were on a school trip.
Puzzle World also has the WORLD'S FIRST two-storey maze. As someone who regularly can't find my way around my own house, I found this an extremely upsetting experience, and had to leave via the emergency exit.
Queenstown and Christchurch
Queenstown and Christchurch were really just pitstops for me this time around - I had to zip back up to Wellington post haste, to catch my flight to Oz - so there's not much I can tell you about these places.
One interesting fact that I picked up, however, is that the earthquake in Christchurch - in which no one lost their life - measured exactly the same on the Richter Scale as the one in Haiti - in which some 200,000 people died. That's pretty crazy stuff.
It was interesting to see some of the recent earthquake damage, including:
cracked buildings...
wobbly church...
wobbly house...
closed roads...
site where an entire building collapsed...
...actually, I am pretty sure this last may have been just a regular building site. The important thing is that it adds to the effect.
My final couple of days in New Zealand were so cold, rainy and windy, I simply couldn't wait to get to Oz, where I knew the warm embrace of the Antipodean sun awaited me.
Sunglasses, shorts and flipflops at the ready, I leapt with vigour onto the plane at Wellington airport, my heart fluttering as I anticipated basking under blue skies, skipping across yellow sands and splashing in turquoise seas. On landing in Brisbane, I scampered through the airport, slathering on suncream as I ran, and hurled myself onto a bus headed for Byron Bay, hurrah!
...only then did I look out of the window, and take note of my new surroundings...
...GOD DAMMIT!!!
....Turns out I've managed to time my arrival in Australia with the WORST freak weather system ON RECORD!!!
...............................
New Zealand overall verdict:
It is hard to sum up New Zealand in words. It is, I feel, better summed up thus....
...............................
New Zealand overall verdict:
It is hard to sum up New Zealand in words. It is, I feel, better summed up thus....
