Waiheke Island

Sunday, February 8

While we were killing in time in Auckland, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to take a quick ferry ride to visit the very popular Waiheki Island before heading north. The island plays host to many vineyards and wineries, which are spotted along the rolling hills throughout. Nature has sculpted a unique beach for each particular water sport. The boats drop anchor in the numerous bays and people spend the day lounging on board, swimming on the beach, hiking on the huge network of trails, or relaxing at one of the many charming cafes. Actually, the people we bought our van from had been to NZ previously on an 8 month trip – they too ventured out to Waiheki on one of their first days and ended up spending the entire 8 months on Waiheki. Rachel and I were surprised that they committed their entire trip on the relatively small island when all of NZ beckons for a visit…until we visited.
We hopped off the ferry and walked over to the scooter rental desk. Rachel has wanted to trade in a car for a scooter for years and we figured this would be a good introduction. We hopped on and took off for what ended up being an 8hr island cruise. We stopped immediately for lunch at the famed Lazy Lounge perched on a hilltop looking over one of the bays. We hopped back on, but didn’t make it far before pulling over to take a swim in the Caribbean colored water (Surprisingly, the temperature wasn’t too far off the Caribbean temp either). After our swim, we headed to the far side of the island, passing thousands and thousands of grape vines.
The varying landscape was one of the biggest surprises to us. It started with a laid back beachy atmosphere, then turned into huge rolling hills (reminiscent of northern England), then to an almost rain forest flora (including huge ferns). Cars were scarce on the far reaches of the island and Rachel and I had a blast weaving through hills, valleys, and trees. We stopped by the grocery store right before sunset and had a picnic complete with a Waiheki Cabernet while sitting on the beach.