Bang......Bang......Bang......Bang Bang Bang ...MORE AMMO

Warren again..... God knows how Helen managed to get me to write so much recently.... aaarrgh my fingers, they bleed :)

While in Wanaka we decided to visit two (Not counting drink or food related) of the local tourist attractions. Have a Shot and Puzzle World, both very different.

Puzzle World, from the outside, looks aimed at kids and to be honest it is. That said its worth the visit for the tilted room alone. This area is on a 30 degree slant while all fittings are "level". This opens the possibility for all manner of optical illusions. Pool balls rolling "up" a tilted table or ropes hanging "off" plumb. It makes you feel very ill for a few minutes until you get used to it. There are numerous optical illusions and a huge multi level maze. We started the maze then found one of the emergency exit signs after the sign stating you will walk 5.5Km solving the maze. We had to get the hold up the building photo outside.


Have a shot is a simple concept. Let people shoot and fire different sort of guns and bows in a controlled environment. Oh, and a crazy golf course. I am starting to think crazy golf is the real national sport but that is another post.

We started with a bit of clay shooting. The man leads us into a small booth that contains a shotgun, 40 rounds of ammo and a window that opens to the world so you can shoot at it. He gives a talk on gun safety, shows how to release the targets and then we are on our own. The local clay wildlife flees for its life to the sound of gunfire. There is a small amount of disagreement on who was the best shot and it is probably better to say that it was a draw, almost, ish :)

We came out of the booth after our session or terrorising the local clay wildlife and went to book some .22 target shooting. As we reached the desk the man rushed off into an archery area. He came back shaking his head. It appears some tourists of Asian origin though it was a good idea to fire arrow at the target while their mate stood next to it to see where the arrows hit.

The .22 target range was a far more civilised affair. No recoil and almost silent compared to the shotgun. You clipped the target onto a piece of bent no.8 wire on a pulley that allowed it to be wound to the end of the target range. Again, there is some dispute on the outcome and the targets have all been mixed up since then.

Needless to say, much fun was had. We both came out after the shooting with that big kid grin on our faces.