Waiheke Island on scooters

http://www.waihekenz.com/index.html

Description for those that don’t know: Waiheke Island is a 30 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland. It is one of the 47 islands that are in the Auckland region. It’s the Napa of the North Island of New Zealand, as Waiheke Island known for its wineries, but it just happens to be a small island. It’s very posh to live on Waiheke. Kind of like living in Marin. Get it? Good.

We did a day excursion to Waiheke. We had 4 reasons for going:

1. Winter Special- It usually costs $32 per person, round trip, to get there. I happened to come across a Winter Special (even though it’s Spring) for $10 per person, round trip. YAY! That is an amazing deal. So, I pre-booked and hoped that it wouldn’t rain.

2. Nancy- My friend Nancy needed 2 bottles of Goldwater Vineyard Cab/Merlot wine. She came to New Zealand to visit us in November of last year and I took her to Waiheke for a wine tour. Turns out the wine she bought from there ended up in a book called 1001 Wines You Must Try Before You Die. So, she simply had to have it again. Here's the link to the winery. http://www.goldwater.co.nz/

3. Beach house for Holming’s 40^th birthday- When Nancy and I were touring the island last year, our driver took us past his rental beach house, or ‘bach’ (pronounced ‘batch’) in NZ-speak, and told us to look him up if we ever wanted to rent it. Well, I do but I needed to see the inside before committing.

4. Scooter- I’ve really been wanting to ride a scooter. Been thinking of buying one but have never actually driven one. We thought the best place to ride would be on Waiheke because it’s a very small island and thought people (stupid drivers) wouldn’t be in such a hurry there.

So on the day we were booked to go to Waiheke, it was raining, of course. We decided to go anyway as I really needed to get that wine and well, what’s a bit of rain, right? WRONG....

As we rented the scooter the guy asked me if I had ever driven one before, and I quickly lied and said “yes!”, because I didn’t want an intro lesson. Rain was on the way and I needed to put this puppy in high gear. I had places to go and wine to buy..... Once on the scooter, I realized that it didn’t have any gears. Haha. It was a wobbly start but I managed. Of course, Holming was a natural.

15 minutes into the ride, it started to rain.

The 1^st and furthest stop was the beach house. Saw it- Loved it- Booked it. Here’s the link. http://www.gotowaiheke.co.nz/beachfrontchalet.htm

This is where we will be celebrating Holming’s birthday this year.

At this point it is really coming down hard, I’m freezing and very wet (wet as if I just came out of the shower) but having the time of my life on this awful yellow scooter. We went for Nancy’s wine, took a quick picture of Holming and got the hell out of there. What a fun and disastrous time. Missions accomplished!

By the way, this is what the same spot looks like on a not so rainy day. Here is Nancy and I enjoying the scenery.