Puzzling World

Stuart Landsborough built the first maze here in 1973 and kept adding. The maze is the original attraction - about 1.5 kilometres of wooden passages on two levels, with overbridges, and the task is to reach all four corner towers before finding the exit, which takes most people between half an hour and an hour and a half. The Illusion Rooms came later: a room where water appears to flow uphill, the Ames room where two people of the same height look wildly different, a hall of holograms, and a Tilted House built at fifteen degrees where balls roll upward and standing upright feels wrong - people with vertigo or balance problems find it genuinely uncomfortable. Outside, the Leaning Tower of Wanaka tilts at fifty-three degrees. It is a family attraction and reads as one, but the illusions are properly built rather than gimmicks.

What you actually see

• The maze - 1.5 kilometres of wooden passages on two levels.
• The Tilted House - fifteen degrees off level, and disorienting.
• The Ames room - the same-height illusion, done properly.
• The Leaning Tower - the fifty-three degree tower at the entrance.

When to go

Any season - the illusion rooms are indoors, the maze is not and is unpleasant in rain. Quieter early. Allow more time than you think for the maze.

Honest expectations

The Tilted House causes nausea in people prone to motion sickness. The maze in wet or very hot weather is uncomfortable - there is no shade. Aimed at families; solo adult visitors get through it faster.

Nearby

Wanaka township and the lakefront are two kilometres north.