Exploring New Zealand on Foot: The Leaves are Changing in Wanaka

We are now in Wanaka and it is absolutely beautiful. The cool weather we were complaining about previously as seemed to disappear. I am unsure the population of Wanaka but it feels an awful lot like home. Our hostel is about a football field away from a lake that is very similar to Lake Chelan. The water is crystal clear and you could almost drink it. A beautiful huge park is the only object between the hostel and the lake. The mornings are a bit brisk, the days are quite hot by 3pm and the nights are cool and comforting.
Our sunburns (little ones) are back. You can tell that it is officially fall in NZ because (1) the leaves are changing to beautiful colors of yellow and red and (2) we could never stay out in this much sun in the summer in NZ and not be fried to a crisp. We have really been enjoying the sun. Anything from a quick swim (and by swim we mean jumping in and out of the cold lake), tossing the frisbee to the point of arm cramps, enjoy local cider while reading, reading in the park and hiking around.
Our first full day the weather was a bit overcast so we walked about 3km to Puzzling World. This place is filled with many optical illusions, puzzles and a huge maze. Below are pictures. At one point I became very nauseous from one of the illusions where you are leaning forward but in reality you are walking straight. I thought Ben would be the one sick but it turned out to be me. It was incredibly hard to even stand let alone walk in this room because your mind is telling you to walk one direction but your body is pushing you with incredible force another direction. Although we appear to be smiling in the photos, it is not a place to stay for more than a few minutes. We also decided to take part in a maze which generally takes about 30-60 minutes. After finding the 4 designated locations in the maze after about 30 minutes we thought this maze was a piece of cake. However, after spending another 20 minutes just trying to find the exit (which was visible but impossible to get to) we took the emergency exit out.
The next day we rented incredibly cheap mopeds and scooted around all of Wanaka. We even scooted to a nearby town called Arthur Town where we found a nice river where we played a few games as the sun beat down on us and the sound of nothing but the flowing river filled our ears. We also hiked up to Mt. Iron which had great panoramic views of Wanaka.
These last few days have been filled with sun, reading and frisbee. I am trying to hurry through the book The Hunger Games so that Ben and I can go watch the movie tomorrow when it comes out. We found the most incredible theatre here. It seats about 30 people on a random collection of vintage couches and such. There is even an old car in this theatre that you can sit in for the duration of the movie. The theatre shows new releases as well as classics. There is also an intermission during every movie and at this point the air is filled with fresh baked cookies and the best carrot cake ever. If you can't tell, we have already gone to a movie here and are planing to go tomorrow.
Well that about sums up our time in Wanaka. We will be off to Queenstown on Saturday, where adrenaline rushes await us.
~ The Traveling Duo