Checked out and back on the bus, we headed a couple of km's out of Wanaka, opposite Mt. Iron and arrived at 'Puzzling World', which is a 'world' of holograms, puzzles and illusions. We saw snooker balls rolling up hill, a room which destorted size and a 3D maze, which takes about an hour to complete (we ran out of time). Next was a brief stop at a small fruit & veg market to pick up some bits. It also sold ice cream, which most people on the bus went for b...

A stop at the Lake Matherson was our first stop on the way to Wanaka, actually this is a lie, we stopped on the side of the road on a hill out of Franz Josef. This stop was not intentional though, as the bus we were on broke down. After about an hour of waiting and our driver disappearing to go and find a mechanic, we were back under way again. The first planned stop of the day was at Lake Matherson, where there was a chance to have some brekkie and take a w...

Franz Josef is where you can do a glacier hike, which we both decided we wanted to do and along with the actual glacier and being surrounded by mountains Franz Josef is also set in rain forest. So, predictably it was wet when pulled up outside the office where we had to confirm our hike bookings. This done, we headed to our accommodation, The Rainforest Retreat. We checked in to our accommodation, a private double which was in the shape of a shed. Although s...

Our journey down to Lake Mahinapua was a fairly short one and involved no little walks or stop offs on the way. We did however have to pick up some fancy dress bits in Greymouth before we left, ready for the nights entertainment at Lake Mahinapua or the 'Poo Pub' as it is known, because the way Mahinapua is said ('Mahina-poo-a') and not for any other reason. The standard weather had graced us again and it was early evening by the time we had arrived at our s...

After doing a couple of walks on the way to Greymouth, one to a seal colony and one at the pancake rocks and blow holes (Punakaiki). These are where the sea has eroded holes in the shore line rocks and with rougher sea's, water is forced out through the middle of them, like the blow hole on a whale, not that we saw this happen. We also drove along New Zealand's answer to the great ocean road in Australia. A beautiful stretch of road which, understandably runs...