Friday, September 26, 2014

New Zealand-Day 7

We were sad to say goodbye to Queenstown, but excited to head on to our next adventure.  We headed north over the Crown Range Road and made a pit stop to check out our last LOTR site. From the summit of Mount Cardona, we had an amazing panoramic view of Middle-earth. (To the left are the River Anduin and the Pillars of the Argonath. In the hills straight ahead is the Dimrill Dale. In the distance is Amon Hen on the shore of Nen Hithoel)

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Views of Middle Earth from LOTR

We continued our drive through to Wanaka and stopped at Rippon Vineyard & Winery and enjoyed not only some wine tasting and an unprecedented view of Lake Wanaka.  We had lunch outside the winery, ran around & played on the lawn and walked around the winery.

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Winery overlooking Lake Wanaka

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Pretty amazing picnic lunch location!

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Cheers!

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The kids enjoyed some screen time while we enjoyed the wine!

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We headed into town for an afternoon treat!

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We spent the last bit of our time in Wanaka at Puzzling World.  A very cool, interactive place filled with illusions, puzzles, and distortions!

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The tilted house was crazy...it actually made me dizzy and a little nauseous when we first went in, but it was very cool and the kids loved it!

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The Hall of Following Faces was pretty cool.

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More illusions…that was not a box Beth was in, but from my angle it sure looked like it!

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This distortion room was very fun!

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Every where we looked…optical illusions, brain teasers and architectural trickery!

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Fun in the bathrooms!

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More fun outside!

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Kids were worn out as we continued on our way to Mt. Cook.

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It was getting dark by the time we arrived in Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village, but we could see the tip of Mt. Cook in the distance.  We checked into our accommodation, enjoyed dinner at the nearby pub, and headed for bed!

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