We left most of our stuff at the airport, and took enough for three days with us back into town. We caught a ferry at 8:45 PM for the 40 minute ride to Waiheke. Punga Lounge, our B & B, had arranged for a cab to pick us up at the ferry dock. We got to Punga Lounge about 9:45, and the owners Rob and Dyan welcomed us and brought tea and home made apricot bars to our room. We had a king size bed, private bath and our own deck overlooking rain forest vegetation for NZ$125. The only problems were the mosquitos made us keep our screenless windows shut all night, the room smelled like bleach, and the wifi didn’t work.
Punga Lodge is about a 10 minute walk from Oneroa, the main town on the island. Waiheke is popular with Kiwis who come out for a day of swimming at the beach or visiting the vineyards. Some international travelers also make it their place to overcome jet lag at the beginning of their vacation, or like us, a place to unwind at the end. The island is inhabited by a variety of artists, activists, eccentrics and millionaires. Every blissful resident we met feels very lucky to live there.
Our first full day, we took a tour with Rochelle, the owner of Waiheke Island Adventures. She has been on Waiheke since the 1970s when it was a remote place, difficult to reach by infrequent and slow ferries. It was populated mostly by hippies, artists and retired people who collected rain water and lived in poorly constructed, unheated bachs, usually without toilets. She paid $6,000 for her bach. The island had 2,000 residents. She could have bought a nearby house for $2,000, but she decided to splurge and get the view lot.
Faster and more frequent ferry service has made Waiheke a suburb of Auckland. Now there are 8,500 residents and her house is worth $1.5 million. Of course, that doesn't matter, because like everyone we met here, she has no intention of ever leaving.
She took us to Goldwater Vineyards, where we tasted four nice wines. The young woman serving the wine and telling us the history of the vineyard calls Auckland "The Big Smoke". I asked her why, and she smiled, "It's different there". Seeing this didn't entirely explain it, she added, "You have to wear shoes there". We walked up a hill overlooking the vineyard and admired at powkanhani tree, a gorgeous green umbrella that was just starting to get its red bottle-brush-style flowers. It's New Zealand's Christmas tree, and will be in full bloom in another week.
She also took us to Top Knot Hill vineyard at Wild on Waiheke, a sort of party place and play ground. A chess board with three foot tall pieces was set up outside. We fell in love with a fabulous 2008 Chardonnay that was only $NZ25. Unfortunately, shipping a bottle home would have doubled the price. We might have done it if the lady serving the wine hadn't thought it was a really dumb idea. Jams, chutneys and the products of Waiheke Island Brewery can also be tasted and bought here. We tried the ginger beer and dark ale. Very good.
Two days in a row I had Scallops from Hell at Vino Vino in Oneroa while sitting on the balcony overlooking the ocean. The dish had a wonderful white wine and chili sauce. The scallops had a beautiful pink piece of meat curving around it that tasted like lobster. The waitress said scallops always look that way there. She also said Americans are always amazed by them.
Lacking public water supply system, each house has to collect rainwater in a big concrete tank, about 12 feet wide. At Punga Lodge, the tank is above ground, ugly, cracked and covered with moss. In newer houses, the tank is buried, which decreases evaporation and keeps the water cooler. People are worried about drought, because even in a good year, by the December dry season, water must be trucked in.
Our Punga Lodge hostess, Dyan, is funny and talkative. Rarely do ten minutes pass without her mentioning how much she loves chocolate. Her favorites are macadamia brittle from Northland on the North Island, followed by Reese's Cups, which are not sold in New Zealand, so her American guests sometimes send them to her or her pilot husband will buy them when he's overseas. I know Reese's Cup are pretty low brow, but I adore them too.
In addition to his main job as janitor of the lodge, Dyan's husband Rob is a pilot with New Zealand Air, and has sometimes carried his guests' bags all the way to the airport when he is flying to LA. He will be piloting the flight to LA 24 hours after ours.
I have found the ubiqitous sheep of New Zealand disgusting, in part because they are eating the country, and largely because of their filthy back sides. Dyan told us that the dirty wool from their butts is used to make carpets. The dried poop on their butts is called dags. It rattles when the sheep are forced to run. From this image comes the Kiwi expression for "hurry up": rattle your dags.
December 3 we took a walk on Oneroa beach and Steve found an arch in a mudstone and calcite outcrop. He presented it to me as a gift. We collected many shells on the beach, that like our cat Sunbeam, were orange and stripey. So of course in our minds, Oneroa Beach is now Sunbeam Beach. There were also lavender and peach striped shells.
We studied tidal pools for a few hours. We found transparent insects and little wee hermit crabs carrying shells 1/4" wide. Everything was in motion in the pools. The ocean water was as clear as drinking water.
The word paradise is frequently heard in conversations with the locals. The cinema shows art films like Young at Heart, The Band's Visit, The Duchess. People donated sofas and bring in pizza and Indian food. The friendly owner of the Indian restaurant told us with all that spicy food being consumed, the theatre smelled bad, but everyone was happy.
The community center has an art gallery where we were able to see the work of island artists. I bought some cards depicting a Tui and a Bell Bird painted by a local. We also peeked into the theater, where dancers were preparing for an evening performance. A Maori man and his wife who would be in the performance talked with us and gave me a hongi, the Maori nose touch greeting. Unlike the Eskimo greeting, the noses aren't rubbed, just touched.
December 4 we went to Palm Beach. At the west end of the beach, beyond some massive rocks, is New Zealand's first designated nude beach. The beach is wide and sandy and lots of shade can be found under the palms, Christmas trees and peach trees. Most of the people were our age and older, although there were some clothed mothers and children. Guess which side of the rocks we were on? This was the first and only time we got in the ocean during our trip. We saved some money and avoided crowds by coming at the Spring shoulder season, but I think next time we should come in Summer and get some use out of my prescription snorkel mask that I bought for this trip at the last minute.
Our last day in New Zealand was an odyssey starting with a walk to the bus stop, the bus ride to the ferry, the ferry ride back to Auckland, bus ride back to the airport, the non stop flight to LA during which we gained back the day we had lost on the trip west, another flight to Tucson, and home again.
The Customs Building in Auckland
Steve thinks there are other places in the world we ought to see, but I would be content to make every vacation a trip to New Zealand, to revisit our favourite spots and to explore what we missed.
