Waiheke Island

This past weekend was Auckland's Anniversary (i.e. holiday) weekend, so I took off on a ferry to Waiheke Island out in the Hauraki Gulf. It is only a short, 35 minute, ferry ride, but so nice to be out there amongst the greenery and calm! Fossil Bay Farm I camped out at Fossil Bay Farm in my new tent. I found a little spot under some trees. Not the most even ground, but it was such a cute little hideaway glade that I just couldn't resist. My tent is entirely mesh, and I decided to take the chance of not using the rainfly, which paid off because I had the most wonderfully fresh and breezy bed around. I was able to use the kitchen and bathroom and such at the farm, which made things quite easy. There were some nice families staying there who were also on holiday, plus some people who live there more permanently, all of whom were really friendly. Only problem was one that I discovered the 2nd night I was there. The first night I was so exhausted, I fell asleep at 7pm (sunset wasn't even until 8:30!) and slept soundly throught the night. On Sunday night, however, I was a little more well rested and was awakened to a little farmyard call and response at 2am. The rooster would crow and then the other farm animals would respond (cock-a-doodle-doo... baaaa, quack, quack...20 seconds later - I counted... cock-a-doodle-doo... baaaa, quack, quack). This went on for 3 hours! I mentioned it the next morning and everyone was like, "oh yeah, that's normal. The rooster always crows between 2 and 5 in the morning and then he's quiet again." Aren't roosters supposed to crow with the sunrise???!! Oh well. I guess this one is one of those annoying ones that likes to be early for everything. Either that or maybe he's from further east. The Cook Islands or something. Oh well. It was definitely a bizarre experience. Waiheke Hills On Monday I decided to rent a mountain bike and head out to the eastern side of the island to check out some new beaches and do some wine tasting and an olive oil tasting (so yummy!). The sign outside the bike shop said "we love Waiheke hills." Fair enough. There are some hills around. Some people at Fossil Bay had brought their bikes over and gave me the DL on which vineyard was the best to visit in bike gear and all that important stuff. They also told me that there are some big hills and I shouldn't be afraid to walk my bike up them. Well these people looked like they were in pretty darn good shape, so that struck me as a bit odd, but whatever. So I took off on my little tour about the countryside. I headed south from Oneroa through Surfdale and Ostend out to the Rangihoua Estate where I tasted their gourmet olive oils (and yummy apples!). Then I continued on up to Onentangi Road Vineyard where I had some good (expensive - whoo!) wines on the biker couple's recommendation. After that, well, I'd like to say it was all downhill from there, but you'd have to take that in the figurative sense, cuz you certainly shouldn't be taking it literally! Man! They had some looooooooooooooong hills on that northern stretch through Onentangi and Palm Beach. They certainly kicked my butt! After the first big hill that I'd come to on the southern route, where I walked halfway up since I was intimidated by the fact that the couple had warned me about the hills, I got to the top and thought "that was not bad at all. I could totally have biked that!" So I vowed to bike the rest of the hills in their entirety. And I did! It felt so good. I definitely needed a good workout. I stopped halfway through at Palm Beach for a little ocean dip to cool off. Luckily, it was actually a bit overcast and rainy, so I wasn't frying in the saddle. Waiheke Hills - Part 2 So although the biking was my main hill-climbing experience on the island, it was not my only one. Upon my arrival, I checked the map and although I didn't know exactly where I was going, I noticed that there were a couple tramps that would take me over to the road where the farm was located. Of course I thought "Oh good! I don't have to walk along the road the whole way to get there!" I should mention that I hadn't exactly packed light for this trip. I was planning on a relaxing weekend, lolling about at the beach, so I packed lots of books to read, plan my further travels, write letters... So here I am: backpack full of books, tent, etc; bag of food in one hand, boogie board in the other, hiking it up this little mini mountain... and then DOWN the mini mountain! Uff da! I guess I forgot about the fact that roads tend to be graded fairly gently, but footpaths have a bit more leeway in that respect! All I have to say is thank goodness for switchbacks and the fact that I wasn't in a hurry! Other Stuff I will put some photos up here from the Sculpture on the Gulf walk I did. You'll like those. It was so cool. Like the sculpture garden, only on a path along the cliffs overlooking the Hauraki Gulf. I also got some homemade strawberry frozen yogurt from Schooner's Icecream Parlour (they didn't make homemade icecream, so I figured I'd go for the fro-yo). Oh. And I went to the Oneroa Sunday market where there was a French woman selling homemade croissants. Of course I bought one and it was fabulous. AND - even better - there were people selling freshly squeezed orange juice. Heaven in a glass!