Unfortunately, No. But Waiheke (Not to be confused with Waikeke) Island in New Zealand was pretty stunning in its own right. And it was just determined to be the Number 5 Region to Travel to in 2016! So how bout that?
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| Sand, Sun, Surf, and Cam |
Cam had to be in Auckland for the day on Thursday so we decided to make a weekend out of it and I flew up to meet him Friday afternoon. After flying by myself and paying for an $80 taxi ride (ugh. thank god you don't have to tip here) I met Cam in our DREAM apartment. Cam has a very distinctive style in apartments and I didn't quite realize what I was letting him do when I gave him permission to pick the Auckland Airbnb. When I showed up, I realized that he had found his dream home. I'm lucky I ever got him to leave. On top of having tons of natural light, it had a surf board on the stairs and the book he was currently reading on the bookshelf. And did I mention the location? On a quiet side road, just downhill from Ponsonby (the suburb), and just uphill from an adorable cafe. Hey, I said his taste was disinctive - definitely not bad.
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| I got a little photo happy when I realized that this is my last time flying to the north island |
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| Bottom of North Island |
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| Flying in to Auckland |
We were excited to be in Auckland. So we headed up the hill to town to check out the local fare. After a couple drinks alone, we met up with one of Cam's longest friends and had a quick dinner with him and his girlfriend before they had another party to attend. Busy city people! I swear going back to New York is going to be SUCH an adjustment. After dinner, we took a walk down town, cabbed back once I realized I was exhausted, got a lolly mixture (because we're sugar-oholics), and called it a night.
And the next morning, before we got on the ferry to go to Waiheke Island, I made sure we went to that cute cafe down the hill for some of that world-famous-in-new-zealand avocado toast. We got a donut to go, because #yolo, and headed off to the ferry.
About an hour later, we were there.We dropped off our stuff at the Airbnb that I booked (a perfect bungalo for two of course), headed in to town to the Oyster Inn, almost got scammed on bikes, walked to a vineyard, drank some wine, went home for a nap, and went back to another vineyard for dinner.
Honest reviews?
Oyster Inn - 5 Stars. Holy Moly. Oysters were incredible. The host told me since winter just passed it's prime oyster season. Speaking of the host, he was the sweetest man - I wish he was somehow a part of my family (hopefully that's not strange) - and we had lemonade mint tea. I died. Should've actually died there - that was the best part.
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| So Good. |
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| What is this photo? This is me being excited and taking photos of everything. |
Man scamming us on bikes - He was the worst. He wanted $20 per hour (definitely a made up on the spot rate) or $60/day even though the day was 12 hours long and we only wanted them for 2 hours. Also the vineyards were walking distance, so walking there and taking a taxi back (I'm noticing a trend) cost us a total $10. Sorry dude.
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| Walk views weren't too shabby at all. |
Mudbrick Vineyard - Beautiful Scenery. As far as atmosphere, I really just wish they had explained their process a bit more. When my mom and I went wine tasting in Nelson, the typical practice was to taste 3-5 wines at the front desk before sitting at a table for lunch, a cheese plate, another bottle wine, etc. I thought we would do that at Mudbrick, but their process is actually quite different. At Mudbrick, they offer a tasting for $10 - $20 (depending on how nice the wines are) and you're meant to have them pour you one, then sit down, enjoy the taste, then go back for the next one. After 3 tastings at the counter it was getting awkward and we finally figured out the system. I felt bad for not knowing that and it kind of tarnished my time. But hey, BEAUTIFUL SCENERY, which is what they're selling, so 5 stars for that. 2(.5?) for atmosphere and honestly the wine wasn't fantastic or really even local... anyway.
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| Welcome to the good life. |
Nap - Naptime was great. I slept. And teased Cam for using the phrase "hey maybe when we're taking a nap I'll look up such and such on the iPad." That's not how you nap.
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| Home, Sweet, Home |
Cable Bay Vineyards - We headed here for dinner upon lots (literally every article I read) of internet reviews that also recommended Oyster Inn. We were one of three groups there in a really forced-fancy atmosphere. I won't go on much more, except to say, I ordered the raviolo expecting some variation on Ravioli and realized that the only variation is that raviolo is the singular form of ravioli. It was one piece of pasta. Cam had a similar experience with the lamb. Well, hey I guess we're trying to eat less meat anyway, right? We had already ordered a bottle of wine, so we drank that, had the $40 bite of food on our plate, and laughed about it the whole way home.
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| Dinner views tho |
The next morning we were up at 5 am to watch the All Blacks beat the Aussies in the World Cup Rugby Finals. First country to win three world cups and first country to win two world cups back to back!!! Tbh I slept through some of the second half but I really did watch the first half. and the end. :)
Also if you're not in New Zealand and probably haven't seen the Air NZ All Blacks Safety Video.. please watch it. When American Airlines/Quantas announced last week that they're starting nonstops from Auckland to LA to create a competitive market (yesss cheap flights), the American Airlines CEO literally said "The only thing we can't do just as well is that safety video... but I'm sure we'll come up with something"
Then we slept in, took a walk down the beach, grabbed our stuff, and headed to the ferry for the long commute back to Christchurch. It felt so good to be home :)
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