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Our flight out of Queenstown was at 1 pm, and we were sad to be leaving. We both agreed that we could have stayed a few more weeks, but at least it gives us an excuse to come back in the future. When we were packing up the night before our flight we were discussing how it stinks that travel days are basically a waste of a day because you are just flying and can’t fit in awesome activities. That is unacceptable for this trip, so we decided to maximize our travel day experience and fit in as much as possible.
So, we woke up at 7 am, finished packing, and headed over to Puzzeling World. What is Puzzeling World, you may be asking yourself. Well – it is Wanaka’s leading tour attraction, rated higher than the lake that reflects the snow peaked mountains or the ski slopes that surround the valley. Puzzeling World brings people from around the globe to experience mind warping awesomeness. And we had exactly 60 minutes to go through the whole place to ensure that we made it to the airport in time.
Arriving at 8 am, we were sad to realize the place opened at 8:30. So we walked around and took pictures until we spotted a worked walking around the grounds. We stalked him until he opened the gates and we rushed in – the first people there for the day! Evaluating our options, we prioritize the outdoor double level maze and went out to master it. The goal was to get to the four corners where there was a tower and then return to the starting/ending point. We hauled butt through the maze, our mind power blowing it out of the water. I think we should have gotten an award for how quickly we made it through the maze – we got to the fourth corner in about 11 minutes. BUT in order to win we had to make it back to the beginning. This proved a little more challenging. After getting lost a few times, swearing a bit, and jumping up in the air to try to cheat we finally found the path out of the maze. Checking the clock, we finished in just under 28 minutes. Not bad!
The indoor section was a little less stressful. We went through a museum of 3D photos, images that popped out of the wall, optical illusion rooms, etc. It was pretty neat. My favorite room was the one that is tilted so it works against gravity and it appears you’re walking on a horizontal surface visually, but you’re actually walking down a slope. So your sensory inputs are super confused and everyone falls all over the place. We went through this room at the same time as a tour bus of middle aged German women who were giggling and falling all over eat other. We were dying laughing watching them fall all over each other. It was pretty awesome. 
We left at the exact perfect time to make it to the airport, get gas in our rental car, and check in. We both said “the car made it” once we parked so we wouldn’t jinx ourselves during the trip – it was a 10 year old rental that would jolt ever time you pressed the gas down to accelerate.
(Mini note from Warren: It was Thanksgiving today and we kept up with the Donohue tradition by eating Chicken (the only poultry we could find), lettuce, tomato and potato chip sandwiches. While we were eating, we called our families using skype and our 3g usb network card which worked out really well the whole trip)
Unfortunately, we had to fly to Auckland, stay over night, and fly out the next morning for Fiji. Warren picked a hotel with a shuttle to/from the airport so we did not have to rent a car. However, once we arrived at the hotel we realized that we were stuck in the middle of no where with nothing to do. This was completely unacceptable considering our plan of maximizing our travel day, so we talked to the concierge and came up with a plan. We would take the hotel shuttle back to the airport and take a city bus to the local mall. Success! 2 hours later, we were walking around the mall. Our goal was to see the new Harry Potter movie, and fortunately there was a movie theater in this mall. When we bought our tickets the lady asked where we wanted to sit. I was like huh? I didn’t even understand the question. What do you mean, where do we want to sit? I looked at Warren and shrugged and looked back at the lady and said “Maybe in the middle-ish area?” I guess that was good enough since she printed off our tickets and handed them to me. I looked at them and then realized why she asked about seating – our seats were pre-assigned. Weird. We grabbed food for dinner before seeing the movie. Warren got a little confused about what all was included in our food package and we ended up with 2 drinks, 2 hotdogs, 2 ice cream cones and a giant popcorn. Totally in line with our honeymoon diet plan of 5000+ calories/day. We were falling behind and need to get back on the diet bus. The movie was good and we headed back to the hotel via bus and airport shuttle before crashing for the night. Day maximized!
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