Saturday 12th March - Auckland (Whaiheke Island)

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Up early at 07:00am. We need to leave the house at 08:45
We are catching the bus into Auckland, to get a ferry across to Waiheke Island, where we have a day's tour booked.
We get some breakfast and head out to the Park & Ride. We are lucky and get a bus straight away. We arrived at the Ferry Terminal in good time for the ferry, and have time to get a coffee on the seafront. We boarded the ferry, it is pretty crowded looks like a lot of people are heading out to the island from Auckland for the day or the week-end. We docked at Mariatia Wharf on Whaiheke Island.We meet our guide for the day, who turn out to be a bit of a character
We set off to explore the island starting on the western side of the island, it was about 11:00 and would finish in time for us to catch the 16:00 ferry back to Auckland.

Firstly we went to Owhanake Bay, where the guide gave us some information on the island, some idea of the layout of the island and its surroundings. The island is about 24 km x 14 km at its widest points, and it is about a 100km to go around its coast. There are over 8,000 permanent residents on the island. From Waiheke, a number of the adjacent islands were visible, such as the Little Barrier Island and the Great Barrier Island. Visibility was particularly good when we were there and we could even see the Hen and Chicken Islands, which are about a 100 kms north. We passed numerous little coves and bays each one more picturesque than the other. We stopped at Palm Beach for a photo-stop, before carrying on through Ostend (which had a Saturday Market) To arrive at Putiki Bay for another photo-stop.

Then it was on to the vineyard for Wine tasting. We visited the Peacock Sky vineyard. A husband and wife team, the wife coming from Canada and the husband from London own this. We sampled 4 wines (2 whites, a Rose and a Red). I bought a bottle of the Chardonnay, which was particularly good.

Next we stopped at Onetangi Beach for lunch. We were given just 45 mins for lunch. We had taken our swimming costumes in the hope that we would have time for a swim but there was barely time for lunch. Plus yesterday the tragic earthquake had taken place in Japan had led to tsunami warnings for Australia and New Zealand. Although the warnings never materialized, the Civil Defense in New Zealand still had warnings on the beach.
Onetangi Beach did not have too many restaurants. We went immediately to “Charley Farley’s” (Shades of the Two Ronnie’s) and ordered, although it was still a bit tight for time. Gary and I had a Seafood Thai Curry that was really good. We have rice but steal some of Di’s chips to make it ‘half and half’ (Di has Fish and Chips and Tracey has Risotto)

Back on the coach and we are heading for the east of the island, which is far less populated than the west side. The majority of the land is owned by John Spencer who made his fortune by having a monopoly on toilet paper in New Zealand. He spent a 20 odd year legal battle to privatize his land and close the rights of way. The legal battle went all the way to the Privy Council in the UK, only for him to lose his battle.

We visited a number of bays including Omaru Bay, Arran Bay, Cowes Bay and finally Man ’O War Bay. All of these bays are extremely beautiful with blue water and stunning scenery. If anything the east side of the island is more picturesque than the west. At Man ‘O War bay we visited another vineyard owned by John Spencer. Gary and Tracey buy a bottle of Pinot Grigio that they liked.

Lastly we briefly visit Stony Batter, where there are a number of large boulders and there are a number of theories as to how the stones have been deposited on Waiheke, that involve various volcanoes in the region. There are also some World War II tunnels that were built to repel an attack from Japan that never materialized. We do not have time to visit the tunnels.

We head off back to the Matiatia Wharf in time to catch the 16:00 ferry back to Auckland. It has been a great day. Waiheke Island is a really neat place, although it is apparent that you need quite a bit of money to acquire the more desirable properties there!!


We arrive back in Auckland city after the 35 minute ferry ride, We decided to eat in Auckland, Although we are a bit early for the restaurant, so we go for a drink in one of the local Irish bars, It was packed as they had been having a practice for St Pats day the following week.
We then go to a restaurant called Tanuki’s Cave, which is essentially a Japanese restaurant. We go down a dimly lit staircase to the restaurant and seek some assistance in our choices. We start with Cabbage dipped in Mayo, sounds odd but it is really quite nice. Their specialty is delicious grilled skewers, with any manner of meats and seafood on them. We have steak, Chicken with Chilli sauce, Prawn and bacon, King prawn. We start off ordering few skewers, we then order more of the ones that we like. A really enjoyable meal!

We then head off to catch the bus. We had used the park and ride in the morning. We get a bus right away. When we get home everyone is tired and one by one they head off to bed. I get enthralled in a World Cup cricket game between India and S. Africa and end up going to bed at 01:00., whilst sampling the Peacock Sky Chardonnay. I had intended having an early night as tomorrow we pick up the camper van and I will have some driving to do – oh well!
Another great day!

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