Disappointments and Suprises

True to form my parent's need to go walking finally pushed it's way into view on Tuesday morning. In the view of Mount Cook (which was partially covered by cloud) we walked past a couple of lakes, over some ropebridges and I honed my skipping stone abilities. All good fun and the weather was brilliant, even if we never did see the peak of Mount Cook through the clouds (Which is three times the height of Ben Nevis). The we drove on to Wanaka a small town by a lake which was very picturesque and had a wonderful campsite by the lake.

Now, the plan was to get a flight over 'The Sound', one of the most spectacular sights in New Zealand... but on waking in the morning it was raining and visibility was rubbbish so after waiting around till 12pm we were told it wasn't gonna happen. Moods were LOW. So instead we rapidly came up with a back up plan and went to Puzzle World which was suprisingly good. There was a challenging maze to work round and an illusions exhibition which was absolutely awesome. Rooms making people look big or small depending on where they were standing, a hall of following faces. It was incredible. You might think it was a lame alternative to the tour, but wait... there's more.

On the way to Roxborough in a place just outside Queenstown called Shotover there is a fantastic jet boat attraction. On short notice we booked ourselves onto a time and went along, still depressed about the damn weather. Basically the ride consists of these high powered jet boats powering up VERY narrow canyons driven by an utter lunatic who likes to see just how close to the rocks he can get without killing us all. We had SUCH a good time. Moments where I had genuine concern for my life. But oooooh the adrenaline rush! After this, feeling very windswept, we visited Arrowtown this little mining town which was very old fashioned and...dull.