From the Ocean to the Mountains - Act 3: Wanaka and a Night in Queenstown

This past weekend, we chose Queenstown and the surrounding area as our destination. Knowing that we would want as much daylight time as possible in the area, M, J, and I left work at 3:30 on Friday and arrived at 10:00 that night at our accomodation, the Hippo Lodge.
Here is a map of our travels this weekend.

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early and drove to Wanaka, hoping to go paragliding. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and low clouds and high winds put a crimp in our plans. Instead, we went to Puzzling World. Puzzling World is one of the strangest attractions I have seen in my life. It is a museum/tourist trap dedicated to illusions and puzzles and general quirkiness. They have clocks that run backwards, rooms that are built on slants so that it looks like water will run up hill, a room that is used to create illusions of perspective like those used in LotR to make hobbits short, and a giant multi-story maze.
Here is a picture of the illusion room.

That afternoon, we decided to go on a hike up Mt. Roy. After climbing about 900m, we were treated to some spectacular views of Lake Wanaka and the town of Wanaka itself. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach the top of the mountain due to darkness.

There was probably 300m of climbing left when we turned around.

That evening, we went out into Queenstown and had some fun times visiting some bars and such. There was one bar that sold mixed drinks in teapots. Very strange.

We went to bed in anticipation of an unforgettable Sunday.