Lake Wanaka

K: Lake Wanaka was our overnight stop between the glaciers and Fiordland. The lake is the fourth largest in NZ, and the area is stunning with more glaciers, the peak of Mt. Aspiring, and lush greenery.

In addition to hiking and numerous outdoor activities, two of the main attractions are Cinema Paradiso and Puzzlingworld. We just may have found the perfect business opportunity. The cinema is a bar, lounge, restaurant and movie theater all wrapped into one. You can dine before, during, and after the movie, in addition to drinking beer, wine or coffee. There is even an intermission during which delicious, freshly baked cookies are served. The best part may be the choice of seating: comfortable couches, lounge chairs, a row of airplane seats, or even an old VW Beetle car.

Just beyond Wanaka, towards Queenstown, is one of NZ's best up-and-coming wine regions, the Otago Valley. It does not produce the same quantities as the Marlborough and Hawkes Bay regions. But the climate is perfect for the fickle pinot noir grape, and some of NZ's best pinots are coming from the Otago Valley. We had a fine afternoon visiting boutique wineries and chatting with the owners of the wineries, which are predominantly family-run. Ah, another business opportunity!
Nets protect grapes from birds




Lake Wanaka, again



Cinema Paradiso



I feel tipsy...



Puzzling World

Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka, once again

Relief--Roman style

Winston Churchill holographic image, eyes follow you around the room, as his head turns

Clock runs backwards

V: Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka was so reminiscent of the old Cinema Lounge in Moorhead, Minnesota, (remember that, my Fargo-Moorhead friends?!) where I saw quite a few films when it was running. Same concept--have a beer and a pizza as you watch the film--but oh so much better at Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka. Truly it is one of the best cinemas on the planet. Oh, and the film we saw there was Mel Gibson's latest cop thriller, Edge of Darkness.

Karen got so, so frustrated in the Maze that we ran at Puzzling World. It might have been that I got to two of the four corners of the Maze before she got to one, or the fact that we together just got stymied in our attempts to find the last corner, but we did, eventually. That was a pretty fun 90 minutes spent in that maze.

Puzzling World was kind of a neat place, with weird-angle rooms, optical illusions such as the holographic faces that follow you as you walk around a room, and really cool artworks from bizarre and unique perspectives, such as drawings by M. C. Escher, my favorite artist.

Am very excited that we shall head out tomorrow for the Doubtful Sound, a remote and pristine spot on the planet!