Monday, September 9, 2013

Waiheke Island

We are into Day 13 of our New Zealand travels and besides living out of a suitcase and inconsistent Wi-Fi (~grrrrr~), life has been delightful.  Before The Professor's first work week began, we spent our first weekend at Waiheke Island, a holiday spot with fine vineyards, restaurants and beautiful rolling hills.  Fortunately, being early spring, no crowds were present!

Much of our time there was spent driving through the countryside and visiting some of the fine wineries.  There are 25+ winegrowers on the island, thus making Waiheke known as New Zealand's "island of wine".


Of course, the wineries were a treat to visit, but for me ... well, let's just say I couldn't get enough of our drives and photographing the countryside.

Sheep were everywhere grazing on some very steep hillsides.

And there were a fair number of lambs frolicking and running around.
(Love that word "frolicking"!)







I also noted all the calla lilies that grew in the wild in the area.  
One of my favorite flowers.


A delightful winery we visited was Man O War Vineyards 
on the eastern end of Waiheke.  
It was such a gorgeous drive there that we did it two days in a row!

And on the second day, 
we stayed and enjoyed this cheeseboard and a glass of wine.  
The first of many that have occurred over the past two weeks.

We have long loved New Zealand wine but only got to visit a few of the vineyards on Weiheke for wine tasting.  One does have to pace themselves!  

Besides, on the second day of our arrival into Auckland as we drove to the ferry to Weiheke, the on ramp traffic came to a slow crawl.  As we drew nearer, we could see they were stopping every car.  As our turn approached, an officer shoved a breathalyzer into The Professor's face and told him to speak.  They were checking for drunks at 7 a.m. in the morning!

We were told this is quite common due to high incidences of drunk driving with a legal drinking age of 18.  Teenagers and alcohol ... bad mix.

This was our view looking down at Man O War Bay.  Such beauty!

Well, I'll end on this for now.  Downloading and putting this 
blog together only took about 3 hours!  Ugh!
There's a Starbucks in town (free wi-fi, bad coffee!) that I
think I'll try.  Maybe they have a faster bandwidth!

Later, my friends,