Wanaka - hometown for the wealthy

One of the illusion rooms in Puzzle World

Jo-Ann and Rina in front of Puzzle World, Wanaka

The leaning clock tower at Puzzle World

The outdoor maze

Rina, Jo-Ann and Winnie by the lake with Wanaka town centre in the background

On our last visit to Queenstown, I decided to take an hour detour and take a tour of Wanaka as we have never been there. Always heard that only the rich can afford to live there and apparently there are lots of American retirees who had settled down there. My first impression of the tiny lakeside town centre was that the architecture really reminds me of suburban USA.

I think the main attraction for tourists to Wanaka is Puzzle World where you can go and walk through an outdoor maze, an indoor area with illusion rooms or just sit down, have some snacks and try the puzzles for yourself and decide if you want to buy them. It is quite a good marketing ploy to let visitors try out as it gets people hooked and some people spend a long time day or bring their kids there to play the puzzles for free. There were a lot of wonderful wooden puzzles plus others made of other materials. My daughter and her friends really enjoyed their visit there. So if you are in Wanaka area, you may want to visit and give yourself at least an hour or more if you are a puzzle king or queen!

Queenstown Skyline Gondola

View from the viewing deck in the main building looking down at Queenstown

Looking down at the bungy jump from the viewing deck

Part of the luge track we 'drove' on

Rina, Jo-Ann's classmate on the luge

Jo-Ann on the podium with her trophy

Last week we were back in Queenstown again for my daughter's regional figure skating competition.  We had some free time so we decided to take the cable car ride up to take a bird's eye view of Queenstown and the surrounding area.

It was an awesome ride and the view was breathtaking!  There was also a small platform where people could bungy jump and a cliff where people can jump off and parachute down and my daughter's favourite was the luge rides.  

I hope you enjoy the photos......

I brought a miracle to my friend!

I have been thinking of my friend who is in financial trouble and decided to visit her just now and I bought some baby clothes, diapers, baby food and some firelogs for heating.  When we showed up in her house with the firelogs, she was so touched and revealed to me that she did not know what to do as she was on her last 2 pieces of fire wood and less than 20 pieces of coal which was supposed to last her until the next pay out on Wednesday!  She just cannot believe that when she prayed to God for help for wood for her burner that God sent me with 2 boxes of firelogs for her.

It was really surreal because originally I did not plan to visit her this evening but decided to do so at the last minute.  She had a major accident a couple of years ago and has 6 slipped discs and cannot carry heavy loads so even if she could afford to buy the firelogs, she could not carry the box to her car or from her car to the log burner.  That was the main reason I decided to buy them for her and deliver them to her up to the log burner!  Low and behold, I did not know that my decision was the miracle God gave to her when she prayed for help (as we are still in the middle in winter)!  And I am telling you it feels really GREAT(!!!) to know that I brought a miracle to my friend!!!  PRAISE THE LORD!

God's Will

Sometimes in our lives we are bombarded with surprises and shocks that we cannot even think would happen to us!  Just beyond our wildest imagination!  And this happened to me last week which makes me thankful for what God has blessed me with in the past 40 odd years of my life.

It was really strange but during one of the many Cadbury events I attended with my girl last week, that of all the places I chose to stand, I selected a spot which is opposite to the house of one of my friends that I have not been in contact with for the past 2 years.  I do come across her shopping once in a while but not really get together to meet or chat.  I found that she has a big change in her living conditions and life in that she was separated from her husband.  For the life of me  I could not forsee that happening as they were such a happy family together when I last saw them.  But circumstances change and when we are forced to make a decision where lots of sacrifices have to be made, it is really hard but I admire her strength and have decided to give her whatever support she may need as a friend.

I never thought that I had to face up to my own opinion on pro-life even though I have heard or read or seen on tv dramas of how people have to make extremely difficult decisions.  My friend was drugged and raped and she had no recollection at all until she found that she was pregnant.  There was great pressure for her to abort (which she could not do as well as for medical reasons) and was also pressured to give up her baby upon birth.  Because of her decision to keep the adorable baby, she was disowned by her own family and was separated from her husband before her baby was born.  She had been a homemaker so now she is living on the minimal welfare that she gets.  I feel really angry for her that her family abandoned her because of her decision and at the same time grateful to my own family for not abandoning me in my times of need.  To top it, she has been harrassed by the baby's father to give him the baby or compensate him with money as he knew that her husband is doing well financially!  And to add insult to injury the church she used to go to has also told her she is not welcomed  as only one of them can attend so she chose to let her husband continue with his worship as he was one of the elders.  Meanwhile she really needs the spiritual help which she is not getting so I hope to support her there.  Despite all her 'nightmare' she still believes that GOD is helping her get by day to day.  To that I salute her and hope to help her out whereever I can.

I just pray that she will have a light to the end of her black tunnel right now as she struggles to everyday life as well as court cases.  I just felt that God has brought me back into her life when she needs help and moral support.  It also makes me realize that some of my problems at work are so minor compared to some of the problems my friend is facing!

Cadbury Chocolate Carnival!

The girls, Winnie, Jo-Ann and Rina, at the bottom of Baldwin Street - World's Steepest Street!

The 'well beaten Jaffas at the finish line!

Just before the finish line!

Half way down the street!

The start with the 'orange wave' coming down Baldwin Street........

For the past 7 years or more, Cadbury in Dunedin has been holding an annual chocolate carnival every July school holidays and this year was no different, except my daughter decided she was going to take part in as many of the free activities as possible!  Of course, there's lots of chocolate freebies given out in most of the activities, too!  So chocolate overload for the young ones!

We started with going on a Sunday trip to the Royal Albatross Centre at the Otago peninsula, a very nice and scenic drive (unfortunately my girl erased all the photos by mistake the next day!) where we saw several species of sea gulls (alas! no albatross!), a few seals and some black swans and ducks.  Then it was onto a treasure hunt in the Otago Musuem which she did with a couple of friends and they enjoyed the hunt very much.  

On Monday we went to Baldwin street for the Jaffa race where 30,000 Jaffas were rolled down the world's steepest street.  Tickets for each numbered Jaffa were sold for $2 each and over $70K were raised in the 1 -2 minute event!  It was quite a site looking at a sea of orange Jaffas rolling down the street!  This race is only unique to Cadbury Dunedin which has been doing it for the past 7 years and last year they rolled 20,000 Jaffas but this year it is increased to 10K! Cadbury Dunedin produces about 80% of NZ Cadbury products.

Exploding Pyrex

I had a scare a couple of days ago.  I accidentally left my delicious apple crumble (so said my guests!) on a stove top that was still on!  I will always double check from now on!  Fortunately no one was nearby when it exploded!  Took about an hour to clean up all the mess!!!

Truckers' Protest but petrol price is up 6 cents!

Despite the nation wide truckers' protest in New Zealand in the main street in 14 major cities and towns on Friday 4th July, the price of petrol is up 6 cents today to $2.19 for 91 Octane!

Since our unemployment rate is still low at 3.6%, the government wants all Kiwis to think that we are still okay!  But anyone with a brain can see that price of consumer goods have all gone up and a lot of households are suffering as a result.

Winter Break is here!

It really is a winter break as it even snowed on our first day off from school!  We are having our 2 week well deserved break!  The past 3 weeks have been setting exams, marking exams and then writing reports for each and every student we teach including those in our form or tutor group (sort of a pastoral group each teacher is responsible for apart from the subject classes we teach).  

So we get the usual, "Thank you for the good report" as well as "You are mean" for those who did not get a glowing report.  I think in NZ reports do not always tell the truth about what is happening as we must be very PC (politically correct) about everything so we cannot be too frank but instead have to be a master at creative writing.  I learnt quite a few good sentences from more experienced colleagues.  My favourite is "So and so communicates very well but often not on the topic in hand" - which means your kid is a chatterbox which cannot be used of course!  

At least now I have a well deserved shot break before the next 10 weeks of Term 3!