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!

evening BBQ at the hostel

after our big walk, we stopped in town for some refreshments (beer,
fries, and oysters, yum!)... we grabbed some groceries, stopped off
at little oneroa beach, then headed back to the hostel. once a week
they do a BBQ night, and we just managed to be there!

the sangria was flowing, and I attempted conversation with the 19 and
20 year olds, but after about one sentence it fell flat... and they
were back to engaging in a Hillarious hormonal banter amongst
themselves.

heather and I ended the evening chatting with 2 middle aged women who
were both sweet and quite keen to advise us not to "settle down"
anytime soon. ha.

Sent from my iPhone

ok, u had to try the rope swing as well! fun!

swinging in the bay

we made our tamping loop, around the top part of the island, and wound
our way back to the ferry cove, where there was a little rope swing.
heather was excited to try it out!

Little Oneroa beach

Robin's out there somewhere!

lovely tiny patch of sand beach to cool off...

ouchie day 1 Chaco feet.

cool ocean water, oh so nice. :)

winding along the coastline

our little tramp along the coast was quite a hike up and down the
cliffs. we kept hoping for a little sandy beach, but the top part of
the island proved to be a lot of up and down big cliff-top hills,
fairly rocky (day 1 exploring together, rethinking daytime footware
choices!) and littered with multimillion dollar mansions. gorgeous...
but we definelely worked for our mid-afternoon beers! oh boy.

tramping through vineyards

well known for its wine, waiheke is covered in vineyards. the first
path if our hike took us around the side of some vineyards getting
ready for harvest. it us late summer here... almost fall! grapes are
almost ready.

tramping.

as in walking. people.

upon the recommendation of the hostel manager. we set off on an
afternoon hike to explore the top corner of the island (after a bit of
lunch, of couse!). he said it would be about a three hour "walk"..

hello waiheke...

jumped off the ferry, and into the island bus, delivering us 15 min
down the road to the road our "backpacker" hostel. bit of a trek down
the road with our dorky rolling suitcases, and we were welcomed to a
lovely estate.

bye bye Auckland

ferry to waiheke

gorgeous morning, got off to an early start... coffee n muffin with
Anna and petia, then heather and i jumped the ferry to waiheke island.
40min ride from downtown Auckland to the island oasis.

awwhhh. much better.

afternoon status meeting...

low on beer... need more oysters.

NZ local welcome!

after i caught a few minutes of the superbowl, i was picked up at the
hostel by Petia, a friend heather had made on her last trip to NZ. we
drove out to the airport and met up with Heather as she arrived from
her long journey from CA.

back to town, petia & Anna welcomed us to their home with some
"bubbly" and a wonderful meal. we spent the evening chatting away with
the girls and their friend Mina. truly a lovely welcome gathering.

we are packing up this am, jumping on the ferry and heading out to
waiheke island. no plans today, but plans in the works for tomorrow to
split the day between visiting the vineyards and beaches on the
island. :)