Picture of the Day: Entering Fangorn Forest

The border of Fangorn Forest was filmed at Fiordland National Park and it is a little eerie driving into the woods. It feels like they are out to get you.

Picture of the Day: Turtle Rock

We saw this on the Milford Sound cruise.

There was also a supposed lion rock but I couldn't see it.

The tour guide tried to point it out.... and Jasmine says she saw it... but I didn't.

Cruising Milford Sound

If you took a sample of New Zealand tourists (can you tell I was a Sociology major?) and asked them which island you should visit, most of them would say the South Island. Now if you asked them what the number one must-see is on the South Island, most would say Milford Sound. I had been looking forward to Milford Sound for awhile now and had already planned to book a day cruise there. Luckily, before we left, I discovered this great website (www.bookme.co.nz) where we were able to get a 70% off discount!

So after leaving Wanaka, we continued south, through Queenstown (with plans to return and explore at a later date) and headed straight for Milford Sound to catch our cruise (a 5+ hour drive which we completed in two days).

Milford Sound is located within New Zealand's largest national park (Fiordland) in the southwestern part of the South Island. There's tons to see in the area, but since we were short on time, we decided to explore more thoroughly on the way back.

On the morning of the cruise, we drove the last leg of the journey and already got a taste of the beauty we were about to experience:

Mountains on the drive over

Milford Sound as viewed from the car park

The cruise we signed up for was a small to mid-sized ship with several viewing decks, designed to fit a few hundred people. However, there were only about 20-30 people on the cruise that day, so we got to enjoy it in an uncrowded and relaxing way.

Once everybody was on board, we were off!

Though the day started off cold and foggy, the skies soon cleared, the sun came out and we were able to enjoy great views of majestic mountains and thundering waterfalls.

Here are just a few of the many pictures we took there:

At one point, we got to get up close and personal with Stirling Falls:

Unfortunately we didn't see any dolphins or penguins, but we did see heaps of fur seals:

The cruise lasted about two hours, but went by in a flash. We had a lovely time!

Picture of the Day: Lambert

No relation to the singer; his real name is Arnie.

Jasmine fell in love with this lamb at the Luggate Cricket Club and gave him a nickname 

before his true identity was revealed. I just looked at him and got hungry.

Side Note: Unfortunately they stopped selling the lamb burger at McDonald's.

 (They renamed it the 'Kiwi' burger and just swapped out the lamb for beef.)

Fun in Wanaka

To be honest, Wanaka wasn't our favorite town. It was dry, dusty, crowded, and I developed a bad cough there. But just outside town was the best value campground we've seen during our entire time here in New Zealand, which made this a good place to recharge and reorganize...

(Just a sidenote: If you ever travel to New Zealand, we highly recommend camping at the Luggate Cricket Club. At $5/person (including hot showers and a charging station), it can't be beat!)

Even though we weren't huge fans of Wanaka, that didn't mean we couldn't find ways to have fun there! There were a few gems to be found in this dusty town...

The first of these is Puzzling World:

As soon as you pull up to this place, you can't help seeing (and playing with) this:

Once you get inside, you are met with puzzles and games designed to challenge and tease your brain. To the right are the “Illusion Rooms” which include:

The “Tilted House”:

The “Hall of Following Faces”:

The “Ames Illusion Room”:

The “SculptIllusion Gallery”:

There is also a Hollogram Hall, and if you use the toilet, you are greeted by Roman-style ablutions:

No, you don't actually go here...

But I believe the main attraction here is “The Great Maze”:

This maze makes you feel like a rat in a science lab. It can be pretty frustrating at times, but a lot of fun :)

There are two challenges to choose from:

We went with the difficult challenge, which took us about an hour. Starting off together, we wove our way around and got lost pretty quickly. Eventually, we went our separate ways and started competing against one another. Andy was able to find the green and blue corners first and I was able to find yellow and red.

Another gem we found in Wanaka is Cinema Paradiso, where we watched “Silver Linings Playbook.” It doesn't look like much on the outside, but is definitely one of the most unique movie theaters we've ever been to. First of all, there is only one room for movie showings, so different movies are shown everyday. Secondly, there is an intermission in the middle of the movie. Lights go out and guests are allowed to stretch their legs, use the toilet, and purchase freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! Thirdly, they sell homemade ice cream here and one of the flavors is “fish n chips.” Yes, really.

But what really makes this theater unique is the seating. From cars, to comfy couches and airplane seats, you can take your pick as to what kind of movie experience you want to have. Andy and I went with one of the couches up front (SO comfortable) so it felt like we were chilling at home. But as you can see, you can pretend like you're at a drive-in, on a plane, or simply at the movies:

The cherry on top is the message to patrons urging them to silence their cell phones:

Please silence your cell phones. If you don't, we have an elephant trained to urinate on your head.

Lake Matheson and the drive to Wanaka

This is another instance in which a spontaneous decision led to rewarding results. We learned our lesson from our glacier hike the day before, so even though we originally planned to go on the quick 20 minute walk to a viewpoint on Lake Matheson, we ended up doing the whole 1 1/2 hour hike around the lake.

Lake Matheson is on the way back to civilization from Gillespie Beach where we had stayed the night. It is known for its reflective views of the South Alps and particularly of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain:

After Lake Matheson, we drove to the next township which happened to be right by Fox Glacier. Since we didn't have the time (or energy) to explore this one, we just stopped briefly to take a few pictures from a distance.

Our goal was to continue south and reach the town of Wanaka by sundown (a 3+ hour drive). But we couldn't help making a few stops along the way...

Lake Paringa:

Knight's Point:

I had a dream about Titanic the night before, so this just felt appropriate

Ship Creek:

As we approached Wanaka, we went by Lake Hawea and I managed to get this quick shot out of the window as we drove past:

The plan was to stay in Wanaka for a few nights. Check back to hear about our adventures there!