A Weekend In Waiheke

Well, on Friday Laura and I decided to have a weekend away - or a night at least!!!

We jumped on the ferry from Auckland city cetre and headed over to Waiheke.

It's a small Island about 30 minutes away by ferry, and it's worth taking the trip as the pace of life is even slower there than it is in Auckland. We stayed at a very quaint little homestay called Blue Horizon run by a sweet elderly couple in Sandy Bay.

It was very comfortable, and very cheap ($95 for an ensuite B&B) and provided a great base for us to explore the island....

Naturally our exploration didn't get a lot past the local beaches on the first day!! We headed out to Oneroa which is the main town (more like a village!!) We had fish and chips there and sat on the beach and comtemplated life. As we didn't take our car with us, everything was on foot which was great. Aucklanders have to drive everywhere because the public transport is so shocking, so it wa a welcomed break.

On Saturday morning we awoke to a beautiful day, and incredible views from the deck that flowed from our bedroom - we took some photos and then headed to Oneroa to meet our friends Jeremy & Emily. We spent a fair amount of the morning and afternoon on Little Oneroa beach, where we built a sand mermaid, swam in the sea, and ate lunch!!!

Making the most of Jeremys wine expertise, we took an afternoon trip to Stonyridge Vineyard. Stonyridge make New Zealands most expensive red wines, and has a beautiful vineyard that we took a tour around. Jeremy used to work there so we got taken round for free and plied with alcohol :-)

Shortly after our wine tour we jumped on a ferry and returned to Auckland refreshed and relaxed...