26/9/10 (Sun)
This morning we went shopping in a supermart called 'New World' in Wanaka. We spent NZD 26 grocery shopping for cabbage, bananas, ginger beer, 4 ribeye steaks, half dozen sausages, a loaf of bread and dorito chips. (You must be so amazed I remembered all that! lol)
At 10.30am, we finally left Wanaka to head towards the Glaciers. Discovered more 'hidden' lakes along the way, like this Lake Hawea.
Awesome view.
Beautiful clouds!
Perfect setting for the Loch Ness monster to emerge from the waters...
The magnificient rainbow I saw after a light shower. Nice, eh.
For Mark...
It was some 150km drive along the coastal roads, passing lakes and forests (including the famous Mt Aspiring National Park; which is worth going if you have the time). The journey was really different compared to our past few days. Apart from the rain falling harder, the roads were getting steep. What impresses me the most were the numerous walking tracks along the way; some leading to waterfalls. Seriously, if I had an entire day, I would wander through the parks (which are actually forests).
We even lost GPS reception a few times along the way.
Finally, we made a stopover at a town called Haast.
One of the very very few cafes in this tiny town was Funtrail Cafe.
What I ate...and drank...yup, my usual hot choc.
What deardear had...
Back on the road, passed this very very long straight (deserted) bridge.
We had to be cautious of falling rocks at some corners.
'Knights Point' sounded interesting so we had to find out what it was.
And we discovered yet another lake; Lake Moeraki
Dear with the tallest structure there.
More coastal driving after that; a sign that we were reaching...
...Fox Glacier right ahead!
The temperature wasn't too cold coz we were more up north....I didn't need to zip up my jacket anymore. It was perfect!
So many tourists there too!
A short drive from Fox Glacier and we arrived at Franz Josef - the more popular glacier destination.
As usual, a friendly YHA staff checked us in for a cosy stay in F.J.
Our room looked so orangey! I felt like I was holidaying in an island or beach in the summer.
Yet another impressive and clean hostel.
Very spacious bathroom cum toilet. Left side's the shower cubicle which you can't see from this angle.
One of the cleanest YHA kitchen I've ever used.
What a delight to see the range of free-for-all-to-use spices.
The lounge and dining area were brightly lit.
We had no outdoor activities planned for the rest of the day, so all we did was play scrabble.
(please excuse any visual vulgarity you see below :p)
And we cooked one of our best dinners in NZ. Ribeye steak (3 minutes on each side produces the perfect 'medium rare' steak) with mushroom gravy + sausages + stir-fried Savoy cabbage (it's damn cheap in NZ) + tortilla chips (why does Doritos taste so much better in NZ!!) + ginger beer (we were so hooked on this while in NZ). Damn SeDAP!
Lights were out by 9.30pm.....and this was the first time I needn't have wear my long john to sleep.
Yey! The room felt just nice.
YHA Franz Josef definitely gets my vote as second best YHA in overall.
At 10.30am, we finally left Wanaka to head towards the Glaciers. Discovered more 'hidden' lakes along the way, like this Lake Hawea.
We were grateful for the sunny dry weather as there were frequently seen loose rocks and stones on the mountains; it could easily have turned into a landslide if it was raining heavily.
Told ya it was beautiful drive with mountains left and right.
The roads were so long and winding, we were looking at 'W's and 'M's on our GPS.
Passing by the town known as 'Cardrona'
About an hour and a half later, we arrived at our YHA Wanaka, fondly known as 'Purple Cow'.
Not a bad bed for NZD 89 night.
What's with the flags on the roofs?
The reception and lounge area for chillaxing.
This is wonderful Wanaka situated in the Otago region and southern part of Lake Wanaka. It is also a gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park. The list of activities here is endless - hiking, biking, water skiing, fishing, and on and on ... all can be arranged just by going to their i-Site office.
We wandered around this tiny town looking for lunch. 
We had a couple of unhealthy, meaty, fatty burgers, of course.
I found this place in the Internet and thought it might be a cool place to visit. 
A short introduction to this place.
The Leaning Tower of Wanaka has a clock with everything in reverse.
A little play room with loads of puzzles and mind-boggling games for the public to meddle with.
First up was the Great Maze where the ultimate aim was to find all four colored towers within a stipulated time frame.
Off we went...I've always dreamt of running around in a maze like this; only that it was full of hedges and shrubs, not wooden planks. 
No help from the others trapped in the maze with us.
Don't worry in case of an emergency or fire; you can still crawl your way out through the space beneath those planks.
Here's proof that we reached all four towers!
All that running around and we desperately needed a toilet break after that.
Kidding! It wasn't really a toilet....just a damn good mural depicting the ancient roman toilets.
Next, it was time for the Hologram Hall to view some remarkable 3-D hologram pieces.
Me playing with a plasma ball. Only my second time playing with this type of ball.
I was pretty much awed and freaked out at the same time by this room.
As if we weren't baffled enough by the eccentricity of this place, we had to deal with the Tilted House next. This entire room is tilted at an angle of 15 degrees. The illusion here is so much so that our brain kept telling us the floor is not sloping. That's how we ended up walking and standing funny.
If I leave my mum in this room for 5 minutes, she'll go insane.
The Ames False Perspective Room was my favourite one of all.
Watch, this is a perfectly normal looking room.
...and this.
Total camouflage!
tsk tsk tsk...
aaaahh....
bionic woman or woman playing tai-chi?
Which turned out to be quite a bore actually...(yawn)
Even the aliens can't wait to be out from this place.
Then there was the NZ Fighter Pilots Museum which we didn't bother to pay NZD 10 just as entrance fee. The museums here were so laid back and had no other visitors there but us. I certainly don't want to end up like that guy in 'Night at the Museum' movie.
Evening came and Lake Wanaka never looked so serene and calm.
The park surrounding the lake had little children playing in the swings, senior citizens enjoying their evening stroll and ducks waddling about looking for food crumbs thrown by picnic goers. 
It felt so safe here, you can easily go up to a stranger and shake his hand.
how do you do, mate...i'm mark.
I told dear, "I must eat something S-P-I-C-Y today! It's been a week without chilli!"
Not even the sour cream was spared!
This place claims to sell the ONLY buffalo wings in NZ! For real??!
Wings was pre-dinner.
Looks like someone's house from the outside.
But the inside was really warm and cosy coz they had a fireplace running.
A very rustic interior, it felt good eating in here. Good choice of restaurant, I patted my own head.
We were given a choice of either a loaf or half a loaf of garlic bread. 
Since we were too full to stomach an entire pizza, we ordered half a serving of their Mushroom + Cream + Cheese pasta. Could have been better, the pasta was too soft.
Downed all the rich food with a glass of apple juice. sweet.
Later during the night, we bumped into Zack and Mandy again who had successfully sky-dived earlier that day. Hearing them speak of their freefall from 12,000 feet then 45-second experience in mid-air made me kinda wished I had the guts to do so too. And possibly the money too. (A skydive costs about NZD 299 per person/ RM 700!). 
Because all the while, they kept referring to Mark as Mike. 
