Day 19
Summary: Drove to Wanaka (stopped at Clay Cliffs and Lindis Pass along the way), played in the illusion rooms and maze at Puzzling World, swam in Lake Wanaka
Monday, January 20th
Greg cooked me up the last egg for breakfast and we headed out to drive to Wanaka, about 2 hours away.
Along the way, we saw a road sign for a natural attraction called “Clay Cliffs“. We didn’t know what it was, but we had all day with no agenda, so we turned off the road and followed the signs for several more turns. Finally, we arrived at a gate with a hand-painted sign that said “Clay Cliffs” with an arrow.
A sign with instructions said to pay $5 in the container and then let yourself in through the gate to drive down a dirt road. Even though the signs along the main road had been official, it was starting to get sketchy! We did a quick Google search to make sure it was actually legit and/or interesting and we decided it was worth it. We put in the money and drove through the gate. Obviously, you could just open the gate and drive though without paying, but we are honest citizens.
After driving down the dirt road for a bit, we finally saw them!
We parked the car (there were several others parked as well, so we felt safe), got out, and walked up to the strange formations. I thought they looked like giant sand castles!
They are comprised of layers of gravel and silt and there were a ton of eroded rocks that we were scrambling over in order to explore.
We got back on the road, stopping at a few lookouts along the way as we drove through some mountains. The photo below is from the Lindis Pass Viewpoint.
Once we arrived in Wanaka, we had lunch at Red Star Burger. We had enough time before we could check-in at our Airbnb, so we drove down the road to check out Puzzling World.
The main lobby is filled with small tables and chairs, and while at first glance it might seem like a cafeteria, each table is actually home to a different puzzle that you can sit down and work on! Not jigsaw puzzles, but brainteaser puzzles like stacking discs in size order with only moving each disc once or trying to separate two pieces of linked metal. You know, the frustrating ones that seem impossible! We didn’t have time to attempt any of the puzzles, but there were a bunch of families working on them together.
In addition to the puzzle tables, they have a bunch of illusion rooms and an outdoor maze. We bought tickets and checked them out!
This illusion mural was located by the bathrooms.
The illusion in this room made you look huge in one corner and tiny in the other!
The floor of this room was slanted at a 15 degree angle. This made it look like you were leaning when you were actually trying to stand upright. It was a very confusing room!
We completed the maze! The goal of this one was to find your way to each of the corner towers.
When we were finished at Puzzling World, we drove up to the location of our Airbnb and the host showed us to our place. It was practically built right into the hillside so it had an amazing view over Lake Wanaka.
We got settled for a minute and decided to find a place to go swimming since it was really hot. We chose Glendhu Bay at Rotary Park beach, which is section of beach with tons of interesting rocks. We skipped some rocks, but it was difficult because there were several boats in the area that we didn’t want to hit and they also created waves that made skipping tricky. The water was chilly, but it was refreshing on the hot day.
On our way back to the Airbnb, we stopped to say hello to some sheep!
For dinner, we tried a place called Kika. I found this place when I was looking up places to eat in a different town. Someone on Trip Advisor was reviewing another restaurant and said their meal there was second only to what they ate at Kika in Wanaka. I perked up because I knew we would be traveling to Wanaka in a few days, so I made a note.
Kika is a tapas/shared plate style restaurant with really interesting (in a good way) items on their menu! We don’t eat very much, but our server recommended a certain amount of dishes because he knew the portion sizes. It ended up being a good amount for us. Each dish came one at a time; here’s what we got: seared tuna (which I’d never had before), corn on the cob (served on a stick and covered in aioli, popcorn, crushed corn chips, and paprika), semolina gnocchi, and purple sweet potato.
Pictured below is the corn on the cob. I don’t think Greg knew he was in the frame when I took the picture since he’s staring off into the distance!
Everything tasted amazing and was so creative! It was also fun and special to be eating corn on the cob in January! For dessert, we had a yummy apple dish that was essentially a deconstructed little apple pie. In the picture you can see the pastry crust in the center with whipped cream on one side and apple on the other. Greg got a coffee cocktail with dessert.
It was a splurge for us, but it was a fun experience! Along with our amazing meal at Plateau in Taupo, Kika was the best restaurant we visited on our trip!
We came back to the Airbnb and finished watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
For a day with only driving on the agenda, we sure found some interesting things to do!
Thanks for reading!
-Rebecca
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