Auckland Adventures

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Tuesday morning we took our time emerging from our accommodation. We stopped at a coffee shop about 9am for breakfast and then walked down to Queen Street, which is the main drag here. After a wander up and down with not much excitement we went to the waterfront which is much more interesting. The beautifully restored post office building dominates the Customs Square. The P&O Pacific Explorer was in Port and many potential passengers were heading for it. Pity them as our experience on that ship was less than exciting!!
We then wandered along the dock passing the ferry terminals and down to the Maritime Museum. The huge hull of the America's Cup winning boat dominates the view outside. Many of the restaurants near here were preparing for Melbourne Cup day lunches and were sponsored by various French champagne labels. A red horse was predominant near one which was having a Mumm lunch.
We returned to the ferry terminals to check on ferry sailing time to Waiheke Island as we were planning our visit for the next day. The weather was overcast and quite cool. We looked for a luncheon spot and returned to Viaduct Harbour and went to Saint Aluce restaurant for lunch. There we had a couple of share plates while watching the rain start up. Saw a great American car pull up just beneath us, transport for someone at one of the Cup lunches. From their we walked back to our hotel, stopping for a drink at the nearby Shakespeare hotel. This was advertised as the oldest in Auckland and certainly had some charisma.
We spent the rest of the afternoon back in our room, catching up on WiFi and resting while not so nice weather was happening outside.
That evening we set out to look for a suitable place to eat. We returned to Tony's but it was closed. We headed towards Sky Tower but went into Rydges and their restaurant, The Cut. Here we had a good meal. We both started with soup, me pumpkin and Fletcher a seafood chowder. We followed this up with scotch fillet for Fletcher and an entree of pork ribs for me. Both were well cooked and tasty. We returned to the rooms to watch some cricket and glad of a quiet day.
On Wednesday we headed down to the ferry terminal to catch the early ferry to Waiheke Island. I had booked tickets on line and we were there early and in the front of the queue. However they had not said you had to redeem the eticket for paper ones so at the last minute I made a dash for the ticket office , managed to do the exchange and we still made the ferry. Phew!! The trip out took nearly an hour and there were interesting vistas along the way. Once we disembarked we waited for the HopOnHopOff bus which I had also booked. This was a great way to see the island as we could do what we wanted knowing the next bus was only 30 minutes away. We first got our bearings by riding on the bus nearly the whole way round. There are 16 stops and they go to wineries and beautiful beaches. There are many permanent residents here with two primary schools and a High school. Onetagi Beach was beautiful. We first alighted at Oneroa Village and wandered along the Main street, then caught the bus back to Tantalus winery. However, when we got off there we found it was only open from Thursday-Sunday. Fortunately it wasn't far back to Stonyridge which was our second choice. We walked along the verge to the long driveway but struggled walking up the steep slope. Fortunately, a lovely local stopped and offered us a ride to the winery which we gladly accepted.
The walk was worth it. We were there just before 12 so decided to stay for lunch. This was an excellent idea as we had one of the best meals I can remember. We sat under their verandah and were served by a lovely waitress who turned out to be Italian. Fletcher started with stone crab and I chose the fish ceviche which that day was tuna. What a delight!! There was a generous serve and totally delicious. For mains we both chose the entree size Venison. Yummy!! The wine was also excellent. I couldn't resist the dessert of Creme Brulee which was good, about 8 on the Chambary scale. In summary a fabulous repast!!
From there we boarded the bus and headed to our second stop which was Mudbrick winery. This was another excellent venue in a lovely building with fantastic views back over the water. We sat outside in the sunshine and had a wine tasting. Again the venue and wines were all excellent and we really enjoyed the ambience. Our last stop was at Cable Bay winery. This was very modern. We sat inside at their restaurant while our very pleasant hostess brought us four different wines to sample. All of these places charge a minimum of $20NZ for a flight of 4. Again, excellent wines and the view over the bay was spectacular. Then it was back to the ferry and the pleasant ride back to Auckland. Loved the experience!

We stayed down by the dock for dinner. We went to an interesting place called Botswana Butchery. Our waiter was South African and was impressed when we said we had been to Botswana. We both enjoyed the meal and the service. Then it was back to the room for a well deserved rest as we needed to get up early to board the train the next day.

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