Auckland - Day Three and Waiheke Island...

Once again, I woke up pretty early and went for a run down to Princess Wharf. On the way back, I "ran" over to the bus station where I bought my bus ticket for the next day...planning ahead, I knew I wanted to check out Rotoroa, so that's where I planned to go next.

I checked out of City Life Hotel (insert sad face here) and met Val and Martin at their place. They graciously invited me to crash at their place that night...so nice of them. The three of us hopped on the 11:00 ferry to Waiheke Island. It was so nice and sunny out. The weather has been great. It's kind of odd though...one minute you are burning up in the sun and the next, a cloud comes along with a breeze and burrrr, it's cold...weird.

Waiheke Island is about a 40 minute ferry ride from Auckland and is a sought after vacation spot for the locals. The ferry ride provided great views of Auckland. The island has amazing beaches and wineries, along with loads of water and outdoor activities. My first impression was of a Hawaiian beach town with vineyards. There is a main town called Oneora with cafes, restaurants and shops and gorgeous views of the water. We ate lunch in Oneora and had purchased a day pass bus ticket. The bus would pretty much take us wherever we wanted to go on the island, the only problem was that it didn't come very often. From the beach, we waited for almost an hour for the next bus. It finally came and we headed off to do some wine tasting.

As far as wine goes, the island is particularly know for it's Bordeaux reds, syrah and rosés where the ocean acts as both a fan and an insulator to the vines. Apparently, most, if not all, wine tasting in New Zealand is free...but, not on Waiheke. The region focuses on premium quality wine. We made are way to Stonyridge Winery where they focus on organic wine where the grapes are hand picked. The price for tasting was pretty outrageous. We chose to buy a bottle of rosés, sit and relax while taking in the sunshine, sea breezes and rolling hills - it truly was one of those, "ahhh, life is good" moments!

I could have sat there on that deck for much longer, but we were on a timeline to catch the ferry back to Auckland. Back on the bus and off we went. Back in town, we grabbed some good Thai food and headed back to Martin and Val's place. I was pretty spent...sun all day, wine and still tired from the long trip...nighty night for me!