Yesterday Kristi, her two college buddies currently working in Australia, and I visited Waiheke Island, a short 35 minute ferry ride from Auckland.
North Head (was there my first day in Auckland)
Rangitoto (will be there in a few weeks)
When the four of us stepped off the ferry, we grabbed a couple of maps and headed towards the bike hire (instead of saying rent, you hire something. “Hire a flat” “Hire a car” “Bike Hire” etc). At first glance the bikes seemed pretty decent but a 3 minute bike ride later, we found that the bikes were not as keen as we’d have liked them. Biking to Mission Bay was definitely smoother than these… My bike ended up being a size too small, the gears wouldn’t shift properly, and the man “forgot” to give me change after paying (NZers tend to do that a lot, so it is recommended that you always pay with credit/debit). Not to worry, got the money sorted out. The x-American bike shoppe hands me a map, tells me which route to go, and off to roll.
Waiheke is a gorgeous island, but has deadly hills. 5 hours of non-stop UPS (and not enough DOWN HILLS) and I was feeling pretty bad. A shifty bike, lots of hills, and a fish ‘n chips lunch that was undercooked left me feeling horrible for most of the ride.
I’m not a poor bike rider. I do pretty well, but yesterday just was not my day. I fell behind the group and could barely peddle, not to mention my chain fell off the bike on one occassion.
But overlooking the dreadfulness of cycling, Waiheke was gorgeous and it made me miss my parents. It was just something I think they would have enjoyed. When I think of clean beaches, sunshine, clear water, I tend to think of them.
The beach we looked over as we waited for our fish ‘n chips to cook.
View while eating fish ‘n chips.
One of the many MUST STOP places.
We stopped at Stony Ridge Vineyard (the most highly recommended of Waiheke’s 10 or so vineyards) and stayed for a bit. The girls did a bit of wine tasting, but feeling not too great I stuck with water and enjoyed the fantastic view as we sat on the patio.
Then at last we finally made our way back to the ferry.