arriving back in Auckland

jumped off the ferry in downtown auckland, and hopped right onto the
express bus to the airport. leaving the north island in a few, and
heading to Nelson (northern city on the south island). excited to
begin the second leg of the journey. we are being picked up first
thing in the morning for a 3 day, 2 night kayaking trip in the Abel
Tasmin park along the norther coast. I am super excited to spend days
on the water, and camp out in the sand! :)

leaving waiheke

caught an early afternoon ferry off the island. time for a little
sandwhich and glass of wine on the boat. not a bad view for lunch!

"downtown" oneroa

had a lovely breakfast at the "lazy lounge" with Anna and petia before
they had to go. wonderful to cross paths with wonderful people who
were generous enough to show us around a bit, and share their time
with us. good good people! thanks again ladies! :)

leaving the hostel & waiheke island

got ourselves packed up this am, and checked out of the hostel. great
little place to stay walking distance from the beach and town if you
ever head to waiheke island.

dragon pizza on the beach

a quick 5 minute walk down the road from our hostel, there is a little
wood fired pizza stand on the beach. super cool! and pretty good pizza
to boot. nice little dinner on the beach, then we spent the rest of
the evening chatting with the girls on the porch of the hostel.

little rest

our little nap lasted a bit longer than it possibly should have, n we
both woke up quite groggy. our friends petia & Anna had come over to
the island today as well, so we woke up and rallied to spend some time
with them.

sleepies take over

wine + beer + bread = afternoon nap

awesome food!!

we lingered for quite some time over our lunch... felt great, but the
wine, beer and bread made the sleepies kick in. we made it to one more
tasting room, then back to the hostel.

moving from wine to beer...

third stop was a vineyard called "Saratoga", actually named after the
town in ca (the family has roots there!). mid-afternoon by now, we
settled in for a delightful lunch, and the house brew beer.

mmmmmm.... wine.

vineyard 2 - miro

took a shortcut through the vineyard and up the hill to our second
stop, miro. perched on top of a hill, the tasting room and restaurant
were a stunning building with a unique combination of Spanish details
in a building mostly made of windows. amazing atmosphere, ok wines.

first stop - obsidian

we lucked out at our first stop on the wine tour... came around the
corner to the tasting area, and the place was packed! turns out it was
a group of wine professionals on a special visit, and we did our
tastings narrated by the winemaker himself. quite a treat. lovely wines!

day of wine tasting

today was all about exploring the island via the wineries. we took the
bus to the end of the line, which is less than half way across the
island, and walked the rest of the way. another gorgeous day to be our
and about!