We took a day trip to Waiheke Island. This was our ferry to the island.
The views along the way to Waiheke.
A stunning island that we passed along the way.
We've arrived at beautiful Waiheke island in the Hauraki Gulf. This is Matiatia Bay. This island has become known for its organic farms, white sand beaches, vineyards and olive groves. It's a 35 minute ferry ride from Auckland's central business district.
This was our tour guide, Glen. He was hilarious with a quick wit and a nice dose of dry, sarcastic, self deprecating humor. In other words, everything that you could want in a tour guide. He was very entertaining.
Rolling hills overlooking a vineyard.
One of the organic fruit and vegetable stores in the little "downtown area" of the island.
We were here.
Some of the people on this island literally have money to burn. A homeowner purchased a $14 million home on the other side of this cliff that's hidden from view. He wanted to build a new home in this spectacular location so he burned the old one down as part of a firefighter exercise.
This island has become a popular home for many New Zealanders that commute each day via ferry to Auckland to work. Some residents have simple vacation or holiday homes called "baches" on the island that they periodically visit.
Our tour guide, Glenn, was relaxing on the porch of this home with the former owner enjoying the view and watching tourists when a couple stopped by and offered him a cool $4 million in cash for the house. His friend is now the former homeowner and $4 million richer.
This is the view that prompted the $4 million proposal.
These houses were fortunate enough to be steps away from Onetangi beach. The boat pictured here in front of the gray water tank is pretty cool. The operator can drive it right across the beach and into the water so there's no need for a truck and trailer. After a long day of boating, the owner just drives the boat back home. The convenience doesn't come cheap. The boats are $150,000, but we saw a number of them on the island.
After the bus tour of the island, we opted to explore the island on foot. We headed off to find a nice picnic spot and came across Oneroa Beach.
Crystal has a thing for trees and we passed this impressive specimen on our way to the beach.
It was a pretty steep descent to the beach, but this view was good inspiration to keep you motivated.
A great spot for our picnic. Aside from our fearless and equally annoying seagull friends posing here, it was perfect.
A large pony tail palm along the main road. Notice the lavender blooming in the right corner. Don't forget it's winter so that's an unusual sight. It turns out that it's a French version that blooms in the winter.
We're going left to catch the matiatia. The island and road names still reflect their Maori origin.
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