Babbling Brooke’s Travel Blog

Without knowing what we were truly signing up for, we decided a nice addition to our Auckland adventuring wouldn’t be complete without a ferry ride to one of the nearby islands. Seattle is well known for its ferry system and numerous destination islands as well, and being lovers of the San Juan Islands, we had a hunch the New Zealand equivalent would render the same admiration. However, I will say, the ferry system here is much more robust! There were ferries coming in and out, leaving every 15 minutes. I can’t completely compare it to our hometown ferry system, though, as these ferries were all passenger only. I have yet to figure out where the car ferries go in and out of. 🤔

Matt had read somewhere that Waiheke Island consisted of a micro wine region and was adorned with multiple wineries. Hence, it was an easy choice for us to pick as our destination. A quick 40 minute ferry ride out of the Downtown Terminal of Auckland, or Queens Warf landed us on the tropical-looking island. This place was a slice of paradise. Picture Spanish vineyards mixed with green vegetation similar to Costa Rica, white sand beaches of the Caribbean, and small beach-side towns all nestled together in the warm heat of the sun minus the sticky humidity. I was ready to forgo all my personal possessions just to stay on that island for the rest of my days.

To navigate around the island we rented E-bikes right from the ferry terminal, and off we went! They had an incredibly helpful app that we downloaded and helped keep us on track to complete a loop of half of the island.

Making our way to the first winery, we stopped along the side of the road a few times to admire the view of the turquoise waters meeting the lush green slopes of the island, and wishing any of the houses tucked in between the trees could be ours. Casita Miro sat atop a hill and lived up to being a Spanish-style winery. Even the tile work and yard art was reminiscent of Gaudi. We ordered a couple glasses of Pinot Gris and some tapas before heading to a grassy sloped lawn set up with various picnic blankets and mini 2-legged tables that allowed for snacks and drinks to sit on despite the angle of the hill.

Feeling that we could lounge here all day and being completely content, it took some effort to get up and continue on our biking journey. One motivating factor was we had more wineries waiting for us!

The next stop was at Tantalus Estate winery where we sat under a pergola to split a wine flight and a glass of their Chardonnay. The rosé was especially delicious!

With a scheduled afternoon ferry back to Auckland in our future and quickly approaching, we embarked once more and stopped at Wild Estate Winery. We each got a glass of Pinot Gris again, and whipped out the trusty word search book that has become a travel favorite. Lo and behold we got carried away with that and missed the last slot to try archery, which was our one and only bummer for the day. That, and wishing we could stay longer on the island!

With little time left we opted to spend our last stop at an olive press called Allpress and had the pleasure of an olive oil tasting which was absolutely superb. How had I not realized there was so much flavor variety in olive oil before? My world is forever changed. We loved it so much we ended up buying a bottle of their Nutty olive oil as well as a jar of the famous New Zealand Manuka honey.

We kinda had to haul ass back to the ferry terminal, so we put our E-bike assistance on full throttle and pedaled, pedaled, pedaled!

Once back in Auckland, we rested up at the Airbnb for a tad and realized we could’ve done a much better job with re-applying sunscreen. Oops.

We lucked out and got to meet up with a couple that just moved to Auckland a month ago and it was so lovely to talk to someone first hand about their experience uprooting their family and setting new roots in a far away place. It was an absolute treat!

Walking back to our Airbnb for our final sleep in Auckland, we packed up our belongings in preparation for heading out in the morning to pick up our rental car that we will have for the rest of the trip all the way down to Queenstown! But before we head south, we will round out the north with a few days stay in Kerikeri near the Bay of Islands. To say I am excited for this leg of the journey to begin is a huge understatement. We have so many fun things booked and countless places saved to stop along the way.

As Bilbo would say, “I’m going on an adventure!”.