SO MUCH TO DO...SO LITTLE TIME LEFT!

TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2011 – ONEROA LIBRARY – We are thankful that all our loved ones are safe and sound but our hearts have been with those in Japan as we watched the coverage of the earthquake then horrified by the tsunami that followed.  New Zealand was spared any major difficulties as a result of the tsunami—an advisory to stay off beaches and out of the water for the weekend was the only restriction.   This earthquake resulting devastation put a bit of a damper on our high moods—earlier in the week we had some great Waiheke Island experiences—which I will share now!

We both got haircuts last Tuesday!   Feels wonderful: 

On Thursday, the day dawned sunny and bright so we called the local car rental business and “hired” (they use that term here) ourselves a car for a day to explore the far reaches of this island.   Our cute little car was called the “baby Hummer”: 

We are on the Hauraki Gulf side of the island for our first several stops—that is the side that mostly faces Auckland.

Our first stop was a popular picture taking spot (couples, bridal, etc.) near Ostend:  

Then off to Rocky Bay: 

Next we headed out to a place called “Azzuro Groves” where they grow olives and alpacas!   

The alpacas have one of the most beautiful views from the island:  

The view peeking through the flax across the street: 

We travelled a bit further down the road to the end of that peninsula where Te Whau Vineyards has 360 degree views and a wonderful restaurant where apparently Sean Connery likes to go! 

Next we headed around a dirt road and enjoying beautiful views along the way:   

Arrived at a lovely place named “Whakanewha Regional Park” where we sat by the water and had a bite to eat—very peaceful:  

Part of the park has a wetland and area that is off limits to protect the NZ Dotterel birds beach nests: 

Some of the areas we drove over reminded us of our touring various parts of “mainland” NZ with the grazing sheep and rolling hillsides: 

We drove past Onetangi heading towards the huge area that Man O’ War Vineyards owns—you go back on a dirt road: 

From here we are seeing beautiful South Pacific views from here:  

We park by a Man O’ War vineyard where they are picking grapes: 

And walk about 1.5 kms to Stony Batter Historic Reserve to see the tunnels built back in the 1940s to defend Auckland—a very interesting walk (with Coramandel in the distance across the water):   

Some of the built ins:  

We went into the hillside tunnel and walked throughout using torches (very interesting underground military bunker): 

The walk back:   

We followed the dirt road down to Man O’ War Bay and tasted a little wine! 

Then started the loop back:  

Orapiu (a foot ferry wharf): 

A look at “Shelley Beach”: 

We were going to have dinner at Kennedy Point but they had closed:  

Drove down to the car ferry wharf: 

Then back to Oneroa for a “side” view of the beach/water from beyond the town:  

We ended our day with dinner at “Viola” in Oneroa—a bit of prawn/pesto gnocchi and pizza!   By the time we got home, we were tired and I think we were asleep by 9:30 PM that night!   J

Friday morning Geoff returned the car and after lunch we walked about 20 minutes to “Goldwater” (or “Goldie” to the locals) Vineyard…had a wine tasting of some lovely wines, bought a couple of bottles and some great olive oil/herb spread…we walked up a small hill and enjoyed the sights from above the vineyard—we both were thinking about how lovely the day has been!  

We walked back and stopped off at our favorite local Irish pub “Malones” for a cold one(picture above ^). 

Sunday night we returned back to Malones for the Sunday Night Jam session of local flavor…and counting down to the big St. Pat’s Party: 

Note that the bottom of the sign says "Land of the long white cloud"--that's what NZ is known as--but I don't think it is for the long white "cloud" of Guinness heads!  Haha

Love, Sue & Geoff xo

P.S.   Our neighbor in Surfdale, Mike, brought us two freshly caught red snapper--our dinner Monday night for sure!   Here's what they looked like:

TIME (and Wi-Fi) HAS ITS LIMITS....

MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011 - ONEROA LIBRARY - No blog today--will have to wait until tomorrow...the library gives you 100MB of free wi fi and I used mine up skyping with my dear friend, Sue Bailey!   We had a great chat and I had no idea I was using up ALL my wi-fi time but it was worth it and that's okay--I get 100MB again tomorrow so will walk back here and download all the great pictures, etc., I have in store for you--so stay tuned--and as Geoff likes to say "all will be revealed!"   :)   By the way, I am on the library PC writing this and my pictures are all stored on my laptop so I can't download them onto this...besides...I only get 30 minutes on this PC and it is very, very slowwww...Sue & Geoff, too  xo

IT’S ‘FALL’ IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE!

MONDAY, MARCH 7 – ONEROA LIBRARY, WAIHEKE iSLAND – Well, it IS Autumn here—apparently the southern hemisphere looks at the dates a little differently than we do in the northern hemisphere and it’s officially Fall or Autumn.    I don’t think we will see any leaves change color but we have noticed that the daylight is ending earlier and earlier!  I did notice that is was cooler this morning but right now it is blue skies, a few white clouds and 80 degrees!!!

If you have ever heard a cicada you will appreciate this…they are noisy little buggers (although they don’t bite and they look like grasshoppers)—so the other day I got up and was sitting in the living room and a cicada had somehow gotten into the free standing metal fireplace and was making it’s noise and it was deafening—I thought, OMG what are we going to do to get rid of that awful noise?    But before long the cicada either found a way out or perished because the noise stopped.   If you have never heard cicadas—you are lucky!

That’s the day we decided to go vineyard hopping. 

We had a beautiful blue sky, white clouded day for it, too!  I snapped this flower picture by the bus stop while we waited: 

We get off the bus near 4 vineyards and are walking near a golf course and these flowers looked fake to us (but they are really real!): 

One of our first views of Saratoga Vineyard:  

 

We had a wine tasting along with a lovely fish taco lunch and bought a couple bottles of their wine (very nice!): 

They even let us try some of the grapes they just picked to make into wine..."wait Geoff, let me get a picture before we eat them all": 

Some photos taken at that great family run vineyard:  

Then on our walk up to Stonyridge Vineyard for more wine tasting, the clouds were spectacular:  

Geoff and his “lady”: 

Just enjoying a sip: 

A view from the deck where we sat:   

 

Then on to “Wild on Waiheke” Brewery and Topknot Vineyard for more wine/beer tasting and some great eats:   

The coolest thing was:

We met Mara, Maria and Nedi--3 young women from California who were in Christchurch when the earthquake happened—they were out at a wine tasting when it struck and they had to go to Hagley Park rather than return to The Grand Chancellor Hotel where they were staying—essentially losing all their belongings, including passports and cash.   A friend in Auckland has a cousin in Christchurch who he texted and had the cousin go pick them up and take care of them until they got a flight to Auckland.    They said the generosity and kindness of the New Zealanders was amazing and when I asked them if they needed anything, they assured me that they were fine and were not in need.   They were, in fact, out vineyard hopping for the day (like us) and they had befriended a couple, Jaime & Sandra (from Peru & Chile) and so we chatted with them as we all finished our wine and caught a bus back to Ostend (for us to do some shopping) and they all were going back on the ferry to Auckland.  They wanted a picture taken with us so Geoff obliged with my camera (from L to R, Sandra, Nedi, Jaime, me, Maria and Mara): 

Geoff and I truly hope that they enjoyed the rest of their visit in New Zealand (and maybe they will read my crazy blog and see their picture!)!!!  J 

I loved the artwork at Wild on Waiheke—made with local shells—one example: 

Saturday night found us going back to our favorite local pizzeria (Stefanos) and having our usual garlic prawn pizza with a few bottles of wine—followed by wonderful 60s and 70s music by Grant Bridges and the Red Fish Herring guitar/singers—it was all wonderful fun—including the dancing with Geoff!   I think I had too much wine because I sure was grateful that we only had to walk a block back to the cottage and collapse onto the bed!

We watched “The Girl Who Played with Fire” last night—it was great and follows the book well—looking forward to seeing the 3^rd movie of the trilogy when we can!

That’s it from Waiheke for this week—will see what next week brings:

Here is Geoff and I sitting on a bench by the local beach the other night—we were looking at the pretty lights across the water:  

Love, Sue & Geoff xo