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Well this is a few months later I’m writing this, as I actually done this trip at the start of June and its now September.

Everything really started the night before (the Thursday night) when I went round my Friends JayP’s ne place for a meal, well the meal was good but the wine was flowing way to easy. If I remember correct then I was drunk before we ate and I fell asleep during the movies!

The next morning I got a lift straight to work from JayP and was so glad that I had a half day. Well that passed reasonably easy considering my hangover. From there it was getting back to Newmarket and down to the CBD for the ferry to Waiheke Island. I think I finally got on the ferry around 4pm, my plan had to be on a ferry at 2pm but the previous night and traffic on the way in to the city delayed that.

The ferry over was lovely partly cos the weather was so nice, I had been blessed with the forecast of a lovely weekends weather, even though I had to book the time off work some weeks back. On arrival at Waiheke I go the bus over to Onetangi Beach, which is good enough two thirds of the way over Waiheke from the Ferry terminal.

I checked in to my hostel room and was really surprised after over 2 ½ years travelling (as it was then, its almost 3 years now) I found my first dorm room with a triple bunk in it. Yes I’ve seen it before but that was on a 3rd class sleeper on an overnight train journey in China. I suppose I’ve got so far without seeing it I thought I never would, just as a side note the size of the room that slept 7 was around the size of the sleeper compartment that slept 6!

My first walk was down to the beach, and yes I can see why Waiheke is loved by Aucklander’s; everyone in work was selling it up but it was the wrong time of year. From there it was back to cook and then out. One of the local bars - Charley Farley’s was celebrating its opening anniversary and had a late license, apparently something very rare on Waiheke! So off I walked with one other guest from the hostel and the manager (it was that bigger do).

The night was okay, I wouldn’t really call the place a pub it’s more like a restaurant with a bar that had the tables cleared out. But I did manage to meet up with a bloke called John who I’d worked with on the Melon farm back in Western Australia, and hadn’t seen for a year!

The next morning I got the updated forecast and the fine weather was due to come to an abrupt end that night as a storm moved in to the Huraki Gulf, hitting Waiheke first before moving on to Auckland. It was really windy so it took me awhile to get going.

Once I did I hired a bike of the hostel, and headed through town and out across the hills to cycle the remainder of Waiheke to its Eastern part and Stoney Batter. Stoney Batter was a secret gun emplacement built during WWII to protect from the perceived German/Japanese threat; it was built in absolute secrecy and wasn’t finished till around two years after peace in the Pacific. The Cycle out started on a moderate scale, it was up and down hills (too big to build enough speed on the way down to get you up the other side) but was surfaced road. Then about 100m after the turning it became gravel road which was an absolute killer on the legs (cycling up a huge hill with a wind blowing in your face isn’t fun but then add a loose stony surface and it just becomes torture). So after around 2 hrs of this torture I got to Stoney Batter, and had a look around the site. I couldn’t do the underground stuff of the old gun emplacements as I’d forgot my torch but I had a walk around the surface and the views were amazing. I could see back over the island to Auckland, up along the Northern coastline towards the Bay of islands. But also looking out I could just make out Coromandel town and the hills of the peninsular shrouded in the cloud of the storm that was coming in.
From there I cycled back to Onetangi bay (it took under an hour to get back) and had a walk along the whole length of the beach (which must be 3-4 km’s long). After a visit back to the hostel and to my disgust finding my room full, it was off season and the hostel had 9 people in it; a couple in a double room and 7 of us in one of 7 or dorm rooms; I headed to John’s place across the township.

So we spent the night there watching a few movies while his other half was out working. Late at night I had to get a taxi home as the storm had arrived. It was blowing a gale and lashing down with rain.

The next morning came and I had to make a decision. What I hadn’t realised when I’d booked the time off work was that this was Queens Birthday weekend...

- A short explanation for you fellow Brits, when our queen came to the throne every commonwealth country celebrates with a bank holiday giving everyone a day off work. Now this gets me it’s my queen but I don’t even get a day off work in the UK, but anywhere else you get a bank holiday for it - the best bit it half these countries where you get it keep discussing whether to change to a republic!!!!

...so I had the opportunity to stay away for an extra night. Well the weather decided it for me. I slowly got myself sorted in the hostel and got the bus back to the ferry terminal. Now at least I got to see a bit more of the Island as the bus followed the South coast back - I’d come to Onetangi following the northern coastline of the island.

This was one of the cool things with this trip, as it’s so close to Auckland the ferry runs hourly so there’s no need to book a return trip, so I gave up and got the ferry back to Auckland to enjoy the rest of my rainy bank holiday weekend!

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