Puzzling World

Puzzling World is one of the many tourist attractions in Wanaka, and one that is particularly appealing to Nerds Like Us.

There are three sections to Puzzling World - the free access areas, the Illusion Rooms and the Great Maze. Possibly a little overpriced at NZ$50 for entry to both for the lot of us, but compared to skiing, that's dirt cheap for three hours of entertainment.


FREE ACCESS AREAS
Visible from the road is the Leaning Tower of Wanaka, sitting at 53 degrees off vertical (compared with a measly six degrees for the Campanile at Pisa).

There are vantage points where one can get a different perspective.

The clock on the tower started going backwards from the stroke of midnight 31 December 2000, so is now back into the 1990s.

Day 2: a snow-free day

We made an executive decision to have our rest day today, given the forecasts. Of course, it turned out to be a lovely day - we heard from one local that he'd had his best day in 15 years (he was at Treble Cone).

(View from the rear of the carpark at Puzzling World)

So we slept in, which was lovely, and then eventually set off for Puzzling World around 9:30ish. We spent a very enjoyable three hours there (see separate post), and came away with a few goodies, including a puzzle ring for me and for Ky, and a blow-moulded face of Einstein that follows you around the room. Oh, and a postcard for work. The site is on the south side of a very high rocky outcrop, so the sun didn't make it to the maze until around midday, which meant things were kind of icy until then.

We then went into town for some lunch, at the Wanaka Ale House and the far end of the strip facing the lake. It's got a grand view, looking out over Lake Wanaka to snow-capped mountains out the front, and more snowy mountains every way you look. It was really gorgeous, particularly when viewed from inside a nice warm room, with your arse warming by a fire.

Next stop was a ski-hire place (Wanaka Green Toad Ski Hire) which seemed to have pretty decent rates (when I checked out some other places, they were in fact very good rates - $22/day for adults, $16/day for kids for multiple day hire). And the service was excellent - Johnny was very chatty, picked out exactly the right boots for us first time off, and helped get all our stuff sorted. They even lent us a set of Allen keys so we could rejigger the roof racks to accommodate the skis (they were too close together to handle the bindings).

Finally, we went off to find a couple more hats - one for JD and one for me. These ended up being a fairly expensive exercise, but they're bloody good hats. JD's is an Icebreaker merino one; mine a Cloudveil one made from soft-shell type material, lined with fleece at the ears.

That should stop the headaches I was getting yesterday. We also checked in at the Cardrona office, but decided to hold off committing to tickets/ski school full day program - we'll go in at 7:30am tomorrow morning when the open.

We're back home now for a cuppa and a veg-out. I'm about to go for a swim, and pick up a few more ingredients for dinner (chicken curry, haven't decided whether it'll be Indian or Thai yet).

And we'll be up bright and early to decide which field we'll ski at tomorrow (realistically, Cardrona is our only option, at least until the kids have got their ski-legs sorted out.

Day 1: Lots of buck, not much bang.

So, we woke early, and finally managed to check the ski report (wifi was down). It was ambivalent - lowish visibility (100m), wind and snow, but clearing. We hummed and haa-ed a bit, and I went off to find an old-school SD card for the old-school camera. (Didn't actually manage to take any photos, of course.)

LATE START
We left Wanaka a little after 9am, got to the carpark a bit after 10am, which meant we didn't have our lift tickets and rental sorted until nearly 11:30am. The reasons it took longer to check in than get there? Queues, sales assistant who managed to botch our order, more queues, nearly out of ski boots, and the rest.

We got tickets for the afternoon lesson for the kids, starting at 2pm, and figured we'd go and reacquaint them with skiing. Jos did fine, but sooked about a sore shin (turns out he didn't have his sock pulled up properly); JD did fine, but sooked a little about the cold; Ky sooked about the whole concept of skiing once he worked out what it involved, but eventually managed to let go my hand and do a couple of turns himself which helped his confidence enormously.

After three runs down the beginners (magic carpet) slope, it was nearly 12:30pm, so we fought the scrum for some lunch. The wind picked up and the visibility dropped while we were inside. Nonetheless we thought we'd try to get a few more goes on the magic carpet run before the boys had their lesson. However, by the time the boys had gone to the loo, JD had gone to buy a new hat (his beanie got lost somewhere in the lunch place), the wind had picked up too much, and they'd closed the magic carpet ride. Ky and I walked a little way up the slope, but a couple of failed turns completely shattered the little confidence he'd got up. Visibility was down to 20m, with a vicious cold wind whipping up a lot of snow. There was no way the kids were going to get their lessons with the beginners slope effectively closed.

EARLY FINISH
Time to call it a day. We confirmed that the kids' ski lesson vouchers were valid for any other day of the season, and then returned our ski gear, and walked back to the car. It was snowing lightly by now, and really fricking cold (I only had a headband for my ears, and was getting a rotten headache from the cold).

At the car, we discovered I'd left the car headlights on and the battery was absolutely dead. I walked back up the hill to the top carpark and found someone who called someone who was able to give us a jump start (or two, which is what it took). Somewhere in this exercise I lost my sunnies.

After allowing the engine to warm up sufficiently, and having JD literally push the car out of the slushy ditch we were frozen into, we started heading down the mountain. The water bottle I had packed proved more useful than we expected, to help de-ice the windscreen. Apart from a wild fish-tail around one corner that got our heart rates right up, and a bit of trouble getting the chains off near the bottom, the homeward bound trip was uneventful. Better than one poor bugger who'd managed to drive into the ditch on the side of the road - there was absolutely no way he was getting out without a heavy-duty tractor tow. Someone else had already stopped to help, so we didn't feel the need to.

IN CONCLUSION
All up, it was a bloody expensive day, even after allowing for the favorable exchange rate.

Lift tickets and equipment rental for JD and me: NZ$260
Lift tickets, rental and lesson for Jos and Ky: NZ$200
(She originally charged us $790 and was perplexed when I baulked - $460 is bad enough)
Storage basket (for shoes): NZ$5
Lunch around NZ$55 (pies, chips, pre-made pretty ordinary wraps)
Lost beanie - probably on AU$10, but irreplaceable (it was JD's favorite Australian SkyDive beanie)
Replacement hat: NZ$5, but too thin to be useful
Lost sunnies - around AU$300 (RayBans)

TOTAL: AU$720 (US$750) and I'm still down a pair of good sunnies.

For all that, we each got three runs down the beginners slope. Not a good day.

The forecast for tomorrow and Friday suggest they are supposed to be similar to today, so we think we'll explore some of the other things the area offers tomorrow, and brave the snow again on Friday. The following three days (Sat, Sun and Mon) are supposed to be sunny and fabulous, so we'll be sure to make the most of them. And we'll probably arrange ski hire off the mountain so we don't have to stuff around with that in the mornings.

We're here!

A little later than we'd expected, but nothing too significant.

MELBOURNE
After boarding a little late, we then sat at the gate for a while, until eventually the captain came on over the PA system and explained what was going on. The combination of slush on the runway in Queenstown plus a full plane (school holidays) meant that the calculated required landing distance exceeded the available runway length. Not an ideal situation. Something changed, and whether it was the weather/conditions in Q'town, or a more accurate calculation or whatever, the new calc said not only could we land, but we could (and should) carry a little extra fuel. So then we had to wait for the refueling truck to come back.

All up, we pulled away from the gate an hour and a half after the scheduled departure time, but the hosties flight attendants plied us with water and juice and lollies to help while away the time.

The flight itself was unremarkable except that I managed to sleep, and that JD and the boys managed to eat all the chocolate we'd brought while I was out.

QUEENSTOWN
Queenstown airport, more properly, Frankton airport, is nestled in the valley between two mountain ranges, a challenging approach if the wind is gusty, I'd expect. It is astonishing to emerge below the clouds to see the township surrounded on all sides by snow-capped mountains. It's just not something you see in Australia. And you didn't see in Q'town last week, as the hills were bare. It's cold (1 deg C), but calm and clear, and there is snow on some of the cars, and on the road verges.

After collecting our cheapie hire care (a Japanese import Corolla with 250,000+km on the clock), we headed off to the nearest shopping centre for a late lunch and a groceries run. We then set off towards Wanaka, about an hour northwestish of Q'town, driving through the slowly falling dusk, watching the stars emerge and the clouds fade, arriving around 6:30pm local time. We would have some photos of the snow-covered vineyards nestled in the Kawarau valley, but it turns out the 16Gb SDHD card I put in the camera is a little too modern for it - at best, it can take a 2Gb SD card. Eh, we'll get that sorted tomorrow.

WANAKA
The Alpine Resort Wanaka is a on the edge of town, a largish complex of semi-detatched units with 2, 3 and 5 bedrooms, now primarily accommodating families (rather than the uni students and rookies (snowboarders) the complex used to cater to). We have wi-fi, spas, saunas, a fairly spacious two bedroom apartment complete with lock-up garage, and a fully equipped kitchenette. I think we will be very comfortable here for the week. Wanaka is the winter-equivalent of seaside towns, with a permanent population of 5,000 people, growing to 50,000 in winter. (Q'town grows from 10,000 to 150,000, which is HUGE.)

The ski report is looking very promising for tomorrow, with clear skies tonight (snow generally falls overnight), so we'll be up early to get up there in good time tomorrow. Talk to you then!

Bags are packed...

And as expected, the weight limit is not going to be a problem - none of the bags are over 6kg (7kg limit). My handy-dandy checklist has check marks in each of the boxes (except for a long-sleeve t-shirt for JD - he doesn't have any - but I convinced him to pack a hoodie in lieu). Unfortunately, the couple of extra tops I ordered through Amazon (shipped via Snarky Bean) haven't made it here in time, so I don't get to try out my silk thermals this time.

Alarm is set for o'dark thirty (also known as 5am), aiming to get out the door by 5:30am, so that we are definitely on the road by 5:45. It's about an hour to the airport, probably less at this time of the morning, but it is school holidays. So while the roads will be relatively empty, the airport car park will be chockers. We must be checked in at least 90mins before the flight (ie 7:20am), and through security not too long afterwards, although we'll have a second breakfast before boarding the plane.

Snow update: almost all fields were closed today - they couldn't keep the roads clear due to the amount of snow falling. The two Queenstown fields (The Remarkables and Coronet Peak) remained open, so even if Cardrona is closed on Wednesday, we may still have options. My reading of the forecasts is that the snow should be easing by tomorrow night, and by the weekend we should have sunny skies. Fingers crossed!

Off to bed, and hopefully a good night's sleep - my back has decided now's a good time to play silly buggers. I'm hoping the ibuprofen and hot water bottle will convince it to calm down. There's a lot of constrained sitting in the next twenty-four hours, which will not be fun if I can't get my back to back off.  'night all!

The snow is falling! Time to pack.

Most of the NZ fields have opened for the season, but are currently closed due to heavy snow/drifts/high winds. Conditions are supposed to improve through the week, so we should certainly be en piste by Thursday (but hopefully Wednesday).

Given we'll need to be packed by tomorrow night (we leave home around 5:45am Tuesday morning), it's time to draw up a packing list. Our flights are super-cheapie, no stowed luggage allowance, so we each get 7kg cabin bag plus a handbag-equivalent. The issue this time is more likely to be volume than weight, as the ski gear is bulky but not heavy.  Because we'll mainly be skiing and catching up with family, we don't have to take dressy clothes which simplifies things a lot. It's also easier now because the boys are big enough to tow their own bag and carry a small bag for their on-board entertainment.

I expect to do a single load of washing half-way through our stay for socks/jocks/polyprop's to minimise the number of underwear items we need to take (and the stink).

I might also pick up a light day-pack for taking up to the fields, to carry snacks, sunscreen, clothes etc to save trips to the carpark during the day. JD could use this as his handbag-equivalent. For example, this one from Kathmandu holds 15 litres, weighs 200g, and folds into something not much bigger than a large fist.

Hmmm, so what's Plan B?

You know how we're going skiing for a week in NZ, leaving in two weeks?

Um, there's no snow.

Australia has one of its best starts to the ski season in yonks, with almost every major field open for the official start of the season on Queen's Birthday (13 June, this year). This is a very rare, once-in-a-decade type event. And given the NZ ski season usually starts a good month earlier, and finishes several months later than the Strine one, you'd be forgiven for thinking there'd be snow on them thar hills.

As of Sunday, 26 June, none/zero/nil/zilch/zip/rei of the ski fields in NZ were open. Mt Hutt opened on Monday (2/4 lifts on a 6cm (entirely manmade) base); Turoa (Nth Island) opened today, sort of (1 lift of 9 operating). There is no snow to speak of at Cardrona (our intended destination).

(from www.snowreports.co.nz)

Pete 'The Frog' Taylor's forecast at www.snowatch.com.au gives a glimmer of hope (my emphasis added).

We should see mostly fine sunny days and clear cool nights this week before a weak change arrives on Sunday bringing some light snow up high. Following this is a series of intense colder systems that looks like bringing snowfalls to low levels across a period of 7-10 days. During this time winds look like being very strong to gale force with blizzard conditions likely.

So the good news is that we could see snowfalls starting around the 4th-5th and then continuing for over a week that should then see all snowfields up and running. [i.e. by 12Jul11 - Ed] The bad news is that during this time there will be periods where the winds may force some closures of lifts or even resorts.

So fingers are crossed, and prayers offered to the snow gods that Pete is right, and the ski fields will indeed have snow by 12 July when we arrive in Queenstown.

Poor Christchurch

Another series of serious aftershocks hit Christchurch early this afternoon, local time, the strongest with a magnitude of 6.0, all shallow and very close to the city. At least one building has collapsed (previously condemned, so it should have been empty), and there have a been a number of injuries from falling debris. Power is out to thousands of homes, and there is yet more liquefaction and flooding. The cumulative trauma to the residents must be awful. They are handling it with the usual tongue-in-cheek stoicism you'd expect.

And if anyone there decided they had simply had enough, they couldn't fly out. The volcanic ash plume from Puyehue volcano in Chile has grounded flights from most New Zealand and South East Australian airports. It's a long weekend here, so the airports are unusually busy, too. I felt most for the soldier returning from a year-long tour in Afghanistan, stranded in Melbourne and unable to get to Tassie and his family.

We're due to fly into NZ in a month, arriving in Queenstown on Tuesday 12 July, flying out of Christchurch on Wednesday 20 July. I've booked a motel on the western side of town which has suffered less damage (being built on river stones rather than estuary sand), and provides more direct access to the south (Queenstown, and Cashmere where my aunt lives).

I hope the planet has stopped burping and hiccupping by then, and neither volcanic ash nor quakes will affect (any of) us.

Tasmania - Jos and Ky's pics (Part 1)

The boys also took a camera with them to Tasmania. Here are a selection.

Portraits and self-portraits

Tasmania - Gopa's pics

While I was off gallivanting around NYC, my parents and my children were gallivanting around Tasmania. And from all reports they had a ball. The Bass Strait ferry there and back, white water rafting, glowworm caves, Port Arthur and more.

Dad sent back some gorgeous photos, which I thought I'd share with you.

Strahan (pronounced 'strawn') - miles from anywhere, and truly beautiful

Gums at Devil's Gullet, a little past Mole Creek