Making paradise ours

Our Trip to Waiheke

So Clinton and I worked out the following division of labor and dinero (money), he takes care of the primary overhead of the household and I am in charge (planing and paying) of our excursions in NZ and beyond. For many of you who know me, this division of labor/financial resources is right up my ally. I love travel planning (having been called upon by a variety of friends for travel and social outing tips) and of all the things I won't second guess spending money on, travel is #1 on my list. So, one of our first excursions was a day trip to Waiheke Island. However, since I hadn't started working yet, Clinton took care of this one...Smile!

Waiheke is a island about 50 minutes on ferry from Auckland and it houses a few dozen wineries and olive farms (hmm, are they called olive farms...not sure, but hopefully you get it). Clinton and I went a few Saturdays ago. Having gone out the night before (girl's night and boy's night), we woke up a little sluggish but managed to pull ourselves together. We packed our nappie (backpack) with a blanket, towel, books and snacks and walked to the Viaduct to catch the ferry. $70 NZ dollars later (for 2 roundtrip adult tickets), we boarded the ferry, climbed up the stairs to the top deck and situated ourselves close to the boat's edge securing our view of the surprisingly clear blue waters and Auckland city skyline. The boat stopped in Davenport and picked up heaps (lots) of people and then continued full steam ahead to Waiheke.

We arrived to the beautiful island filled with rollings hills that sat spectalar million dollar homes (or at least they seemed to fit that price tag). As we made our way through the crowds, I asked Clinton whether he wanted to jump on and off buses or if he wanted to rent a car. He begrudedly reminded me that I was the excursion planner and that it was up to me. I had thought we would by a bus day pass that would allow us to jump on and off the bus but after seeing the long lines at the bus stops at the Quay, I began to second guess myself and thus asked about the possiblilty of renting a car. "Unfortunately," the older male staff stated, 'there are no cars for hire on the entire island." There goes that idea! He offered an alternative of walking to the middle of town and going to the beach there.

Clinton and I began the trek which lasted about 20 minutes and wasn't as scenic as I would have liked. Once we entered the center of the city, there was a strip (maybe 2 blocks long) with stores,restuarunts and real-estate offices. We were ready for lunch so we found a cute restuaruant situated between two stores that offered waterviews and fish & chips...that basically sealed the deal for Clinton.

The picturesque view from the restuarunt was of the beach and the small bay. We had a nice lunch, despite the fact that the food wasn't spectacular and Clinton found more evidence for his theory that restuarunt staff in NZ don't wear deodorant. We walked down to the beach and found a spot under a tree, laid out our blanket and took a yummy nap. The breeze felt wonderful and lulled me right to sleep...not that I need help falling a sleep (wink, wink). Clinton isn't much for just sitting in the beach so he made his way to the water and as he placed his toes into the fridged bay he jumped back and spent about 6 minutes (probably more like 15 minutes) amping himself up. He finally took the plunge but came out just as fast. LOL! So warning, even in summer, the waters of Waiheke are as cold as beaches in New England (and thats COLD).

After about an hour and an half on the beach, I got us walking to one of the nearest vineyards, Mudbrook. Well, it wasn't really walking distance (20 minute walk with some of it being uphill) but there wasn't any buses that went there and I was up for the challenge. Clinton..hmmm..yeah he really wasn't. BUT after much convincing and the buying of an ice-cream bar, Clinton was on board to walk.

15 minutes later (so thats about 5 minutes from arriving to the winery), we pass a group of young folk that so genoursily shared with us that both vineyards in that direction (the one we were walking towards) were closed for special parties. We turned back around and decided to go to the toursit office in the center of town to ask about buses to other vineyards. We arrive just after 3 and were told that the next bus was in 50 minutes and that most tasting rooms closed at 4. They also recommended that if we were going to any of the vineyards that we make a reservation because they become quite crowded at this hour.

I was totally bumped. Clinton and I sat on the steps of the tourist office trying to figure out our next move. Clinton suggested that we plan another trip to Waiheke were we get a car and make reservations to eat at the wineries. I knew he was right...visiting a winery was basically a lost case, so I agreed with him but stated I needed to at least have some WINE while in waiheke. So I suggested that we go back to the center of town, buy a bottle of waiheke wine and sit on one of the many benches we saw walking (for some reason it seams there are benches eerywhere...even in some of the most random of non-scenic places...LOL). We went to the store and bought a Esk Valley Reisling with two plastic wine cups. We then found a bench near by, twisted the bottle open (not very good but drinkable) and drank the whole thing while chit-chatting about this and that. We both realized what though this wasn't our ideal outcome, we were quite blessed to be sitting on this bench located on the beautiful island of wiaheke, in New Zealand. So, even though it was a bit of a ghetto-fabulous take on Waiheke, it was still a blessed one and it was ours.

We will be back!