Arrival on Waiheke Island
The Banking gods have decided that I should not over extend on this trip, and so, I will not be making the trip to Wellington. Getting there would be expensive, and the hotels I was looking at were not cheap. My credit card has still not been working, so I have been relying solely on my savings (Glad I had some!). Still, I think I have done well to achieve my main objectives: to see old friends, visit the giant kauri trees, and drink some local wine. Ok, there was something in there about finding a cute, blond, female kiwi but you can't have everything.
taltosdama and I spent Monday doing laundry and debating the television viewing habits of my god son. It was obvious I have itchy feet.
Waiheke Island is just off the coast from Auckland, only a couple 40 minute ferry rides from P&L's. The 30 minute walk down to the ferry terminal does not count as I was identifying trees. I spotted a Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia). Our departure on Tuesday was iffy all morning. The weather was bad, it seems two storm fronts were colliding just off the coast. The local ferry service was not phased by it. Then we seemed to be having trouble getting a hold of my god son's care provider. But finally the stars aligned and we rushed down to the terminal.
The first ride was light, a small boat with maybe a half dozen passengers. The ride out of the main terminal was bigger, and we had a 3 masted sailing ship with us for a short while. L got us a couple beers and we started into knitting. She had not picked up her project in a while and had dropped several stitches. After showing her how to pick them up, we hit some rocky seas for the last part of the ride. L was impressed that I could still knit with size 2 needles in the swaying boat and not drop my beer.
We arrived at the island and immediately caught a bus. The driver saw where we wanted to go and kindly called ahead to another bus that had just left so that it would wait. This is not the first time that I have been struck by the kindness of service workers here. We got a tour of the populated side of the island and were finally dropped on a beach on the far side. Think Santa Cruz back when the land prices just started to go up. Our hostel was at the top of a hill overlooking the bay we found ourselves at, the stairway up was somewhat daunting with bags and backpacks. But we made it ok and still had energy to trek back down to the beach for dinner.
L and I relaxed with a couple beers (still nothing great to say about the beer, middling at best). We treated ourselves to the Venison Stew which was quite tasty. L says I have been very lucky only having one bad meal. I was warned about kiwi food and came with low expectations. They have no taste for spice and often make strange substitutions.
We made an early night of it, nothing else to do out there anyway. That night I experienced the joys again of bunk beds, plastic mattresses, and snoring.
taltosdama and I spent Monday doing laundry and debating the television viewing habits of my god son. It was obvious I have itchy feet.
Waiheke Island is just off the coast from Auckland, only a couple 40 minute ferry rides from P&L's. The 30 minute walk down to the ferry terminal does not count as I was identifying trees. I spotted a Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia). Our departure on Tuesday was iffy all morning. The weather was bad, it seems two storm fronts were colliding just off the coast. The local ferry service was not phased by it. Then we seemed to be having trouble getting a hold of my god son's care provider. But finally the stars aligned and we rushed down to the terminal.
The first ride was light, a small boat with maybe a half dozen passengers. The ride out of the main terminal was bigger, and we had a 3 masted sailing ship with us for a short while. L got us a couple beers and we started into knitting. She had not picked up her project in a while and had dropped several stitches. After showing her how to pick them up, we hit some rocky seas for the last part of the ride. L was impressed that I could still knit with size 2 needles in the swaying boat and not drop my beer.
We arrived at the island and immediately caught a bus. The driver saw where we wanted to go and kindly called ahead to another bus that had just left so that it would wait. This is not the first time that I have been struck by the kindness of service workers here. We got a tour of the populated side of the island and were finally dropped on a beach on the far side. Think Santa Cruz back when the land prices just started to go up. Our hostel was at the top of a hill overlooking the bay we found ourselves at, the stairway up was somewhat daunting with bags and backpacks. But we made it ok and still had energy to trek back down to the beach for dinner.
L and I relaxed with a couple beers (still nothing great to say about the beer, middling at best). We treated ourselves to the Venison Stew which was quite tasty. L says I have been very lucky only having one bad meal. I was warned about kiwi food and came with low expectations. They have no taste for spice and often make strange substitutions.
We made an early night of it, nothing else to do out there anyway. That night I experienced the joys again of bunk beds, plastic mattresses, and snoring.