Day Seventeen - Wanaka

seventeen
Originally uploaded by bpelley.

We woke up in our campervan in Wanaka, and spent the morning at Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World (http://www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/). Great time walking through the outdoor maze, and some very amazing illusion rooms inside, including some used in Lord of the Rings to make the actors playing hobbits appear small relative to others. The sedate and cerebral morning was followed by an afternoon of sledging down the Kawarau River. We had a fantastic time, nice class 3-4 rapids, and a very fun way to run the river, low pressure and lots of fun whirlpools in a very tight and high flow river deep in a canyon. The water looks milky green in the sun, due to sediment from glacial minerals and the reflection from the sky.

We returned to Wanaka and had time to grab a shower and some dinner, then head out to Wanaka's local cinema, the Cinema Paradiso (http://www.paradiso.net.nz/). Very comfortable place, filled with couches and flowing with great food and local beers and wine, and the best ice cream yet! The movie was very good too, Little Fish with Cate Blanchett, a small Australian film that might not see general release in the states. Quite a full day!

For more pictures from Day Seventeen, click here.