NZ: Day Two: I Wanna Be Where The People Are

Woke up happy after a much needed deep-sleep, Ben slept in longer than me - we both hoped this would help fix his jet lag! This morning we had a bit of admin to do before we set off to explore Auckland. We had decided it would be easier for us to get new SIM cards as, despite what I was told in Oz, my phone did not work over here. Cue a walk down to Vodafone, where I was actually served by someone from Northampton?! I could not believe it; the chances must be so slim!

 

Once we were all sorted, it was time for a wander down to the harbour to find a good spot for food. It was a glorious day and after a slow walk admiring the deep green sea, and awfully expensive boats, we found Dr Rubi’s Rooftop Brewing Company. It had an amazing view, and we timed it exactly right to get seats together on the terrace overlooking the quay. Hazel and I both ordered the ‘Bang Bang Chicken’, Ben had a pizza and we threw in extra fries to share. Odd things to eat so early, but hey, we were on holiday. After months of being on a backpacker budget, it felt good to treat myself!

 

With our bellies full, we hopped back down to the boardwalk and somehow found ourselves at a ferry box office buying tickets to Waiheke Island. How spontaneous of us! It sounded lush, and it was too nice a day not to head out on the water. We hot-footed it back to the hostel to change into swimsuits and were back in time for our journey across.

 

We sat up on the top deck of the ferry so that we could take in the sights, it was truly beautiful; with lots of small islands scattering the route – all of them looked so green and luscious. It was ridiculously windy though, I had to hold on to my hat so that it would not blow away!

 

On our arrival, we spotted our ‘Hop on Hop off’ Bus that we had booked with the ferry and headed straight over. It was only us and a Tour Guide, so we immediately went on up to the top deck and nabbed the front seats. We needn’t have worried, we left before anyone else hopped on. Our guide was very enthusiastic, sharing his favourite stops and giving us a rough history of the island.

 

Our first stop was Oneroa, the main village, where Hazel treated us all to an ice-cream from Island Gelato. We pushed the boat out a bit and tried some very unique flavourings; I had 'roasted strawberry and pomegranate' and 'peanut butter and salted caramel', Ben had 'mandarin' and 'basil, mango, and lime' and Hazel had 'lemon crumble' and 'espresso coffee'. It’s safe to say I had never had anything quite like it! We wandered down the hill and on to the beach, all sampling each other’s – other than mine, I quite liked the lemon flavour.

 

We drifted to the right of the bay, where we found lots of crumbly looking rocks in the shallows, and tiny rock-pools to explore. Shoes in our hands, we of course had to have a paddle. Ben was understandably extremely excited to be in the sea, singing songs from The Little Mermaid at the top of his voice. It was so lovely in the water, but we had to get back up to the village in time for the next bus. Typically, we just had to walk back up the wrong pathway and come out a fair distance from the bus stop. Even worse, from our random spot we could see the bus pull in… it meant a run. I really didn’t fancy it, so let Ben go ahead and delay departure.

 

Vi was our guide this time, and we all had to suppress a giggle when she asked if we knew her ‘friend in England’. Our next stop was another beach; Onetangi was a gorgeous 2km long stretch of white sand on the other side of the island.  We sun-creamed up, stripped off and found a nice dry patch to leave our belongings as we waded into the water. It was surprisingly warm, and we had fun trying to jump the waves as they washed towards the shore. We headed back to the beach as it clouded over, carving our names in the sand as we tried to dry off.

 

We spotted the bus and had four minutes to make it up from the beach to the roadside. I had to run this time. The others were taking their time, and the driver was getting quite impatient – luckily, this was the bus with our favourite guide who didn’t mind one bit. Once we were on the road again, he revelled in telling us and the other group on board about the many wineries on the island, and his favourites. We took his advice and got off at Batch Winery, which offered incredible views over the island and to Auckland. Ben and Hazel ordered a wine, while I wandered over and through the vines enjoying the green all around.

 

The Winery closed a few minutes before our bus arrived, but this just meant that we got to enjoy the view from the carpark as we waited. Our last stretch on the bus took us around the remaining route down the hills and along the coast. The island truly was beautiful, I felt like we’d barely scratched the surface as we said our goodbyes and climbed aboard the ferry.

 

There was a beautiful sunset across the harbour, illuminating the Auckland skyline. It was a bit too cold to sit outside this time, but we enjoyed the views from our window seats inside. Back in the City Centre, we bought ourselves some food for dinner, and snacks for our bus journey the next day. Suddenly realising we didn’t actually know where we were needed in the morning, we scouted out the bus stop too. Cooking up a few quick veggie wraps for dinner, it was soon time for a shower and bed!

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