Sliver of Truth

When we were planning our tour of the South Island of NZ, there were two places added to the list of potential destinations pretty early in the process. The first, Wanaka, was somewhere I'd visited in 2004 and it was on my trip highlights and I'd always wanted to return. The second, Lake Matheson, was an elusive destination on that same trip. I got close but never made it... time, weather and access got in the way. Compared to many other of NZ's famous lakes, including Taupo, Wakatipu and Wanaka, Lake Matheson is tiny, with a circumference of less than 4k. But it's famous nonetheless, primarily because of what you can see when you look in it, or at least what you can sometimes see... 

We arrived in Wanaka after a 2 hour bus journey, on the back of our very enjoyable 27 hours in Twizel. Getting off the bus on the lakeshore, the view over the lake was much as I remembered - hills, mountains, trees and lots of activity on the lake. The only difference at first look was the colours - I'd been here in autumn on my last trip so the lakeshore then was lit up by yellows, oranges and reds amongst the foliage. I remember following a lakeside path and crunching and kicking the fallen leaves like a big kid... But the view was still special and it was good to be back.

We'd decided to treat ourselves to slightly more luxurious accommodation in Wanaka - the hotel came equipped with swimming pools and hot tubs and I did spend a good portion of my time soaking in the hot tub and enjoying the view... the air was a little bit chilly first thing but it was a great way to relax!

We weren't completely lazy though - we managed to scale another mountain (Mt. Iron) and from the top view point, it was easy to see how much Wanaka had grown since my first visit, with lots more building still going on. I took lots of photos and am interested to compare with my 2004 shots from the same location.

After our exertions, it was time to test our brains at one of Wanaka's star attractions - Puzzling World - which consists of an outdoor giant maze, illusion rooms and lots of puzzles. This was another reason for coming back to Wanaka... I hoped Jon would enjoy it as much as I had. We started with lunch in the cafe and spent a good hour trying out all the different table top puzzles. We played 3-dimensional connect 4 and Jon developed a minor obsession with games involving kiwis. I wouldn't do anything else until I solved the "make a shape out of lots of different shapes" challenge - helped by a chocolate biscuit of course.

When we finally dragged ourselves away from the puzzles and out of the cafe, we headed for the giant maze. Given our opposing styles - Jon wanted to think carefully about every move and I prefer to charge off down paths at random and hope for the best - it's a wonder we're not still in there. But we did get to all the different coloured towers in the right order and get out again - all in less than an hour and without major incident - see, smiling in all the pictures!

After a sit down to recover and try out more puzzles in the cafe, we then headed into the illusion rooms, where your perspective is challenged and things get very confusing... Snooker balls roll up hill, faces follow you round the room, big looks small and the world seems upside down. We loved it, even if it was sometimes tricky to stand up without getting dizzy and heading to the bathroom could get freaky!

After a last attempt to solve some of the puzzles, we headed outside to take part in a final Puzzling World tradition - a bit like the almost compulsory photo stop at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Tekapo - posing with the crooked tower to create your own optical illusion. I'm not sure we were quite as enthusiastic as some visitors - we watched one family pose for about 50 different shots - but we did  have fun!

After all that physical and mental effort, we headed back to the lakeshore, where there were lots more bars, restaurants and cafes since 2004. We opted for cocktails and sunset watching at the very funky Gin and Raspberry... I could get used to this!

Another interesting diversion in Wanaka was the Toy and Transport Museum. Imagine collecting all the random junk, cars and old toys from everyone you know and putting them in a big hangar... That's pretty much it. There were cabinets filled with new and original Star Wars figures still in the boxes, Smurfs, limited edition Barbie dolls, train sets, dolls houses and Thunderbirds replicas, as well as dusty collections of irons, carpet sweepers, typewriters, telephones and meat grinders!!! It was a chaotic but dusty trip down memory lane... We didn't get very far in our hire car though!

Whilst in Wanaka, there was still time for another instalment in our mini-golf saga, with one of the closets games yet as I triumphed by just one shot. The series is now tied at 3-3 - we're trying to find a location for the decider! We also went to a tiny cinema - there were 16 very comfortable reclining seats and only 2 of them occupied (by us) - and the only disaster was having our haribo confiscated before the film started. 

It was good to be back in Wanaka - I think Jon has become a fan too - but our time was limited and we were soon back on the bus and on our way to Fox Glacier. It was a lovely journey - captured in poetic form for UNESCO World Poetry Day in a previous post - and we were back in Glacier country, only about 30k from Mount Cook as the kea flies. We checked in to our very cosy hostel - back to more normal accommodations - and went off to explore the nearby rainforest - it's beautiful.

On Sunday, we walked through the rainforest again, crossed a few mountain streams (just about keeping our feet dry) and scrambled over a few rocks and glacial debris to the Chalet Lookout, giving us a great view of Fox Glacier and up to Mount Tasman too. Mount Cook was proving elusive amongst the clouds again. The walk was a tough one but it gave us a good opportunity to see the terminal face of Fox Glacier as well as a few glimpses of the higher mountains too. At we walked back down, the cliffs lifted a bit more and a flurry of helicopters took off from the village to give the waiting tourists their perfect glacial view... We counted 6 helicopters in 10 minutes before the clouds came down again.

Later in the evening, we headed back to the rainforest in search of glow worms. Just a few minutes walk from our hostel and about 50m from the main highway, the forest lights up at night with little specks of light from the glow worms. It was a great sight to see.

On Monday, we devoted a day to Lake Matheson, the tiny lake that had drawn me back to this area. If the skies are clear and the winds drop, Lake Matheson provides spectacular views of Aoraki/Mount Cook, Mount Tasman and the glaciers which are then almost perfectly reflected in the clear, reddish-brown tinted slightly waters of the lake. It's the ultimate chocolate box picture and is found in almost all NZ guide books. The only trouble is that the weather doesn't create those conditions very often here... rainforests get lots of rain and there are generally cloudy skies on many days of the year. On cloudy days though, the reflections in the lake can still be impressive, even if the mountains don't appear.

We walked down to the Lake (a 3 mile walk from the village) and rewarded ourselves with the breakfast specials whilst waiting for the clouds to shift just a little. On the walk out, the mountains had only momentarily appeared before being engulfed in clouds again. No helicopters were flying after an initial flurry of activity. The sun came out and we took a walk down to the lake, which was surrounded by rainforest and alive with birdsong. I'm developing a fascination with fantails - the clue to their appearance is most definitely in the name. As they dart amongst the trees, they make life look fun! We also spotted a rare blue mushroom before climbing up to the "view of views" lookout. We'd been hoping that the clouds would lift and they had, but not quite enough to show us the snowy peaks of the Southern Alps for that chocolate box picture. The reflective quality of Lake Matheson was clearly in evidence and exceeded expectations. I was really glad we made the trip... we'll just have to come back again for the chocolate box!

We hung out at the Lake Matheson cafe for a couple more hours but the clouds were sticking close to the mountains. Tea and cake was some consolation, as well as a surprise meeting with a couple who'd shared our Tasman Glacier cruise just over a week ago. We'd talked about Lake Matheson as a possible destination with them, but it was a strange coincidence to see them there on that day. We were glad we'd lingered over those cakes and chatted for an hour or so before they dropped us off back in the village. 

Despite the variable weather and our slight disappointment at the missing mountains, we did get a dramatic sunset once back in the village.

On our last day in Fox Glacier, we went back to the glacier to get a closer look at the terminal face, which, like many of the glaciers in the Southern Alps, is fast receding. It's no longer safe to walk up to the face or the side of the glacier - there was evidence of recent rock falls and collapsing ice looking down from the safe-ish view point. The glacier face is probably about 50 metres high but doesn't really seem that big in the photo.

And now we're getting ready to move on to our final two destinations in NZ, first to Hokitika and then on to Christchurch. The adventure continues.

Happy Travels

Liz T