Messing With Your Head

The rest of Puzzling World included roman public toilets, the Lord of the Rings illusion room, art illusions, following faces, 4D hologram photos, and the leaning tower of Wanaka. Your mind is so easily tricked, but it made me appreciate the fact that the world is so full of wonder and that questioning that same world around you is a really good thing.

One of my favorite things was the cafe; every table has a few different brainteasers on them to finish off the day. Perfect for enjoying with ice cream or a drink after a long day of having your mind messed with.

Haka and Poi

 
The Haka is, in a simplified way, known as a traditional Maori male war dance. Recently it's been made popular by the All Black's, the New Zealand rugby team who perform it before the start of their matches.

Watch how intense the energy of these guys is. This is from the 2011 Rugby World Cup. France starts to move towards them, it's never happened that another team came to challenge this tradition in such a way. Watch what happens!

Poi on the other hand is the traditional women's way of telling stories and performing.
This is one of the things we went up the gondola to do, to watch, learn and participate in these Maori traditions!

Chris got elected as the spokesperson "chief: of the group and was formally accepted during the performance.

Then they went on to perform a few different types of dances.

And then it was our turn to learn.

All in all I'd say it was a success, we definitely weren't as good as them though. Maybe I'll suggest doing a haka at our weekly rugby matches. I'll let you guys know how that turns out.

We did 1 more activity up at the gondola.. Check out the blog tomorrow to see what it was!

Patagonia Chocolates

Everyone has a favorite treats place. While in Queenstown, Patagonia was one of mine. Ice cream, chocolate, cakes, truffles and crepes. Definitely the place to be on cheat day. The ice cream is a little too sweet for me, but there are loads of flavors to choose from. I would normally go for 1 dark chocolate piece and 1 white chocolate one.

And then the day before we left I discovered this beauty... Two crepes filled generously with Nutella, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, a spot of homemade whipped cream, all topped with homemade melted chocolate and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Where has this been all my life?! It's an orgasm in your mouth. I think it's meant to be shared, I didn't. If you haven't tried it yet, do!

Breakfast Heaven

I love breakfast. Chris loves breakfast. Novotel has breakfast buffet deals on grabone about once a month for a half price breakfast buffet in Queenstown. Best $15 I ever spent on breakfast (maybe a little more than that because we got at least 2 each every time it came out we loved it so much). This is what round 1 looks like for us.

And this is round 2.

We would each get a glass of kiwi juice, orange juice and apple juice, a tea and a coffee. Then we would get kiwi and orange greek yogurt. Then come the pancakes with syrup, eggs (done 3 different ways), grilled tomatoes, bacon, waffles with homemade whipped cream, sausage, baked beans, mushrooms, hash browns croissant, cereal, cold cuts and a few slices of fruit with nuts on the side. We would also grab an apple and a banana each for the road. Breakfast would usually take us about 1.5-2 hours, but it's so, so worth it.
Anyone can go even without a grabone deal, it's about $28 for a breakfast buffet, but can you really argue with the amount of food you get for that price? Especially in Queenstown? If you see this deal on again, get it! I promise you won't regret it.

Springtime in the Gardens

Singapore doesn't experience any seasons, its summer all year, very, very hot summer. One of my favorite things about spring is keeping your window open, the fresh morning air, the scent of flowers, the light breeze, especially after a dark winter, it just makes you appreciate the sunshine just a little bit more.
And while Queenstown heads into fall, this is what springtime looks like in the Queenstown Gardens.

I hope you're all out enjoying the sunshine!!

 

Cherry Blossoms

It's spring in the northern hemisphere! Which means cherry blossoms! Traveling back and forth across the equator really messes with what season is what/when/where. Seeing photos of everything blooming brings a little sense of nostalgia...

Happy Spring everyone in the USA and Europe!!

Cropool Anyone?

Has anyone ever heard of cropool, or croquet pool? My guess is probably not; Have-A-Shot in Wanaka claims to be the only place in the world that has it! Chris was pretty good at it. For me on the other hand, never having played croquet before, it was a learning experience to say the least.

This is what the "field"(?)/"table"(?) looks like.

And this is how you play:

I'm not sure I'd like to play again, but it was cool experiencing something not many people have.

Has anyone played anything like this before? Or maybe even cropool?

#52: Learn Archery

Learning archery was always something I've wanted to do. It just looks so cool being able to hit a target with an arrow, especially made even more cool by Lord of the Rings Legolas and The Hunger Games Katniss! 
I'll be the Ukrainian Katniss :)
Chris and I got a chance to learn a short while ago and we both loved it! The amount of concentration required is amazing, but when you breath and focus you can actually follow the arrow bow to target as if there was a camera following it, just like in the movies!

It's a bit different than shooting a gun, a bit more relaxing. There's no kickback, no safety locks and no chance of accidentally shooting your fingers or toes off. 
I love it; has anyone else tried it as well?