Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island is now among the top 5 places I have ever been!!! I didn't get on the ferry until 10am yesterday (Tuesday) but that ended up being the best time since I decided I wanted to take the bus tour around the island immediately after the ferry arrived. Bus tours aren't usually my thing, but this was a great decision since the Island was very hilly/didn't have any flat land whatsoever. I was able to get the general idea of the island and some very interesting facts. It's not a huge island, but at least 1/3 of the land on the Eastern part is completely undeveloped and is used for farming (I think mainly sheep). About 8,000 people live on the island and another 6,000 own holiday homes there. In peak summer season, which is January, there are about 35,000 people on the island at any time! But it's only been an attractive destination for the last ten years. It was mainly used for farm land all the way up to the 90s and in the last 15 or so years, the real estate market has gone up 700%!!!! Basically all the land that is allowed to be developed, is and therefore if you want to buy something, you would have to buy an already built house and it's surrounding property because of the laws. Apparently the hippies came to Waiheke about 15-20 years ago and now most of them have been driven out because of the cost of housing. Also, they don't have any running water so everyone has rain catchers and they use rainwater for everything. Usually the run out in the summer so then they can buy it from one of two reserves. Almost everyone has solar power too. This is a seriously "green" island and it's absolutely beautiful!!!

We were able to stop at a couple of points on the bus trip in order to take pictures. I'll try and post my pictures with this part of the blog so you can see! The weather on Waiheke is generally about 5 degrees warmer than Auckland...and it totally was! When the tour was over I got off at Oneroa, the largerst "town" on the island so I could look around. Every shop I went into I wanted to buy something because the people were incredibly friendly! I went into this t-shirt and wool sweater shop and ended up finding this fantastic recycled glass jewelry! I just HAD to get something so I got a necklace with a pendant made out of an Absolut vodka bottle! Hell yes!!!

Then I decided that I needed to have a snack/lunch and at least one glass of wine since this Island is known for it's boutique wineries. I went to this place called "Vino Vino" that had a tremendous view of Oneroa Bay. Apparently in the summertime about 50 or so boats travel into this bay for lunch time and the owners all eat and drink a couple bottles of wine. Then they wander up the shoreline into the town where they tend to drink a bit more. By night time, when they decide to return to the bay and find their dingy and then proceed to find their boat, there are around 800 other boats in the bay!!! Can you imagine that!? So I had a platter of bread and three different spreads: Roasted pepper, hummus and pesto; a bowl of locally grown green olives and two glasses of different red blends! Fabulous! The second glass was just so much better than the first. The first was a Goldwater Wine blend (the oldest winery on the island), the next was a Passage Rock blend. When I finally got up to leave I decided to go next door to the wine shop and see what I could buy. The guy told me that the Pinot Noir's were good so I finally decided on one, only to have him tell me that the island was known for it's Syrah's. Hello! Those are my favorite!!! I swear, I'm meant to live on this island at some point in my life. I basically turned around and had him show me the best ones and ended up with Passage Rock's Syrah. This wine has one several medals before and was only twice the amount of money I had originally decided to spend. But I have to tell you, I could almost justify the Stoneyridge wine because of the exchange rate. Apparently one of Stoneyridge's wines has one the top medal in the world in 3 out of the last 7 years!!! You can't beat that! Apparently one of the bottles was recently auctioned off for $10,000!!! The one I was looking at was $195. But I think I'm going to be super happy with my purchase.

At this point in the trip I decided I was exhausted and should head back so I could spend some quality time on the internet, applying for work positions at all of the wineries on Waiheke Island. I decided I would take the "short 15 minute walk" down to Matiatia wharf instead of wait for the bus. Well...of course I completely took the wrong road and ended up at a different bay: Owhanake. Well, the road was going to end if I took it up the next hill and I'm not a fan of retracing steps. Why not take the little trail off to the side that climbs the mountain at a steep grade? I'm so ridiculous that here I was in my nice sandals with my huge suitcase of a purse filled with a bottle of wine among many unnecessary things climbing this ridiculous wet grassy trail up the side of a mountain. The map said it would reach another road that should hopefully get me to Matiatia. Oh my god, I'm so glad nobody was watching me slide around huffing and puffing up this hill. I'm so ridiculous, I swear any sane person would have just turned around and walked back up the road to the bus stop. I finally made it to the top and was awarded with a fabulous view of almost every side of the Island! I took some pictures and then found another trail to take to the road that would lead me to Matiatia. This was probably one of the most hastily made decisions ever. I only fell twice, thankfully, but there was one point where there was no clear sign of which way to go. I was in some thick forest-y area with leaves literally praying out loud that I wouldn't run into a snake or some huge ferocious animal. Finally I found myself staring at a pasture with sheep and figured the area was harmless. The trail ended on a dirt road. Thankfully I went the right way and ended up only about a mile away from Matiatia wharf! Wow...what an adventure!

So I took the ferry back and struggled not to fall asleep. I went to the suprette (tiny grocery store) close to the hostel so I had some food for later and then returned to the hostel. Auckland was at least 10 degrees cooler when I got back from Waiheke! I sent an e-mail to 8 wineries last night! I've heard from one that said no, and the owner of another winery texted me! Ha, he told me to send my resume to a different e-mail address since he was in Switzerland!!! Hopefully this works out.

Today, I think I'm going to the Museum and just going to get some quality time outside because it's really nice and sunny out! Hope everyone is well! Here are the pictures of Waiheke:

Waiheke Island

-Lisa