Waiheke Island

After a brilliant weekend with Hannah and Gareth I headed to Waiheke Island whilst they headed off to work (boo ! tried to get them to call in sick ...) Auckland has lots of little islands hidden off its coast which seem to make for little trips the harbour and beyond. Waiheke was a 35 minute 'fast cat' ride from Auckland and it was a beautiful day. Arriving on the island I did a nice walk on the wonderful interpreted board walks which weave around the island and found a bed for a couple of nights at 'kiwi house' a notch up from a hostel with towels and blankets !

Famous for sea kayaking,the centre greets you as you pull into the harbour

Clear views across to Auckland city from Waiheke

The pretty harbour area from above and giant flax plants

An old knarly pohutukawa tree in xmas bloom on the beach

The island has lots of beautiful sandy beaches

Waiheke is an inspiring place, its only a small island but has an abundance of little vineyards producing mainly Merlot and Shiraz (becoming a bit of a wine buff!) I did taste some of the red wines but felt they could do with a few years cellar time to really be 'ready'. The island also produces lots of yummy fat olives and exquisite olive oils.

Another feature of the island is the sheer number of artists who live and work on the island which makes for some really creative ideas. The resource trust which takes recycled waste from the island, develops creative and educational projects (http://www.junktofunk.org.nz/) for schools and the community they have some inspiring ideas which I will be taking home to develop with me. There is a great storytelling centre set up by the talented NZ story teller Tanya Batt (http://www.imagined-worlds.net/) and to top it off a wonderful gallery space, little cinema (with an eclectic collection of old sofas for seating) which I explored in depth and made some new friends with great ideas on a very rainy second day on the island.

Its not all glamour ! look how wet and windy it was !

New Zealand fish and chips (pronounced here as "Fush 'N' Chups") are in a whole different league to a British chippy, you enter the shop, choose the piece of fish you fancy they weigh it and batter it and fry it fresh with your choice of potato or wonderful kumera fries (sweet potato) Yummy !