Day 15

Around Wanaka. We slept in and arose to a glorious breakfast with David & Jocelyn : muesli, fresh fruit salad and yoghurt with rubarb too. Then put on a load of laundry and headed out the door to see the playground on the Lake's edge. They have a giant slide which is a dinosaur - you climb his tail and then slide down his neck to his head. Zack was in his element. Lots of wonderful things for little people to play on and get grubby doing. From there we drove out to the Wanaka Fighter Pilot Museum. They were having a aerial acrobatics show so we settled in with chairs and hot drinks, and Keith and David went off and took some photos of the planes. I went for a long walk after a few unsuccessful attempts to get Zee to sleep (too much excitement with the planes and noise), and got it right. We then had to walk a very long way from the airfield back to the mainroad, and then a further 1/2 km to get to the Museum's entrance, because the large Maori "bouncer" wouldn't let us through a gate we were stupid enough to ask whether we could pass through. We should've done what everyone else was doing and just walked, without being polite and English! Stupid.
Well, I've got that off my chest - I was pretty miffed with that guy.
The Museum was fantastic! One of the best aircraft museums I've been to. They have some wonderfully restored WWI and WWII planes, with alot of film footage, stories from RNZAF pilots, gear, models, and more. I was really impressed by the quality of the presentation and the overall look and feel of the display - world class. They host the "Wings over Wanaka" airshow every year at Easter, and I think it's kept them well connected with the world's aviation museum networks. It was pouring with rain at this point so we were a bit torn about what to do - Zack asleep, Jocelyn waiting for us in the car, so Keith went off with the Wilsons to get our car, so that they weren't obliged to stay on. Once he got back, we explored the Museum further and then drove to the World of Puzzles. It was a bit of a mixed bag, because we've visited the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh so recently. Their hologram exhibition was OK, but small in comparison. What was really impressive though, was the maze and the slanted room. Wonky and it did my balance no good - even Zack was stumbling into the walls. A bit of fun! It was still raining when we tackled the maze (a monster of a thing), and after doing 1/2 of it in the drizzle, which took more than 20 mins, we decided to take the EXIT. Then into town for a cuppa coffee before heading home with a ratty boy.
David and Jocelyn and cooked up another wonderful dinner for us, altho' they were disappointed that the rain had persisted and we weren't able to have a BBQ. They did make Keith's favourite - roast chicken and potatoes - so we were all v happy. We spent the rest of the evening just chatting about world affairs, New Zealand and the UK.
We also got a chance to look at their neighbour's beautiful photographs of Wanaka & surrounds.