Day 51 - Auckland, New Zealand

Choo choo! All aboard the wine train. Today is Vineyard crawl. Aka self made wine tour. 

I wake up to an unusual sound... the noise of a washing machine as Nat has put another wash on. Just like being at home!

We then head to the pier for the 12pm boat to Waiheke Island. There are no official tours left so we decided to make our own. Luckily Waiheke Island is pretty small and well connected with their own bus service so we just pay for the return ferry (a lovely 40 min cruise from Auckland) and a day bus pass for the island. It turns out to be such a better decision. Despite a lot more booze than you would get on the tour and the ability to go at our own pace we are at least $50 up at the end of the day. 

We are so lucky with the weather today too. It's gorgeous with barely a cloud in the sky, turning to a perfect blue sky all afternoon. Great views of Auckland as we set off towards Waiheke. 

Nat's mouth is feeling much better today. She is back on form!!

We get to the port and jump on the bus across the other side of the island to Stoneridge Vineyard, out first stop. 

This was apparently named one of the top 10 Vineyards to visit in the world by the UK Guardian and I can see why. A lovey place and some awesome wines. The Church Bay Chardonnay (first of our five on the list below) is surprisingly our favourite wine here. So fresh and perfect for a summers day. 

Nat racking them up (after being ID'd)

The setting for this Vineyard is stunning. Such a beautiful piece of country side. 

Next we got the bus back to the other side of the island to head to a small grouping of great Vineyards recommend to us by Gus. Unfortunately we miss our stop and end up back at the harbour which turns out well when we discover a lovely walk through the hills to Cable Bay Vineyard. The walk is gorgeous, first through the bush then across more open land. 

Wines 5-10 at the very plush Cable Bay. 

The Five Hills Waiheke Island is our favourite here. It's a lovely Merlot Malbec blend. So much going on in this wine - it gets right up in your grill (this is official wine parlance). Delicious. 

This place has an awesome view of Auckland across the fields. 

We then walk down the road to the next Vineyard called Mudbrick. Probably the most famous on the island. This is the view back over to Cable Bay enroute. 

Mudbrick is equally as gorgeous. As a setting probably better than Cable Bay although Cable Bay probably has the better view. 

The next tasting commences. 

Lie favourite one here is the Sheperds Point Merlot-Malbec 2011 (4th one down). 

Time for another glass of the Sheperds Point sat on the terrace after the tasting. An idyllic setting. 

And a cheese board of course...

After, we try for one more vineyard next door but it is closed so we head back to Cable Bay to chill out on the lawn. We are so happy to be missing the crappy first day back at work post Christmas back in the UK. Luckily the only 'January blues' this year are the blues of the sky!

These bean bags were unbelievably comfortable. Could have sat here all day. 

We then take the gorgeous half hour walk back across the fields to the port to get the boat back to Auckland. The tide has really gone out now. 

Great view of Auckland on the way back. 

Back in Auckland we head back to the epicentre of good bars and restaurants around the EY building! We have a drink at the gorgeous Orleans bar which makes us excited about visiting New Orleans later in our trip with the great pictures on the walls. 

We then head to a great Mexican unimaginatively called Mexico that had passed last night. Such a cool place and heaving for a Monday night. We even had to queue. 

All in all an absolutely fantastic day sampling 17 different very tasty wines. Up there with one of our best of the trip (although there are many contenders). Waiheke Island is a hell of a spot. One of the most beautiful places on earth. I think for the settings of the Vineyards it beats Stellenbosch and Franschoek in South Africa although the towns in those places are a bit prettier. 

Massive thanks to Gustavo for his recommendations today. We would not have been here if it wasn't for his Facebook message a few days ago so thank you kind Sir. Fantastic recommendations. Please send more!!! 

Day 50 - Auckland, New Zealand

This morning we make good use of the wifi in our B and B and get some serious admin out of the way ahead of South America. A very productive morning of booking hotels in Cusco, Puno, Copacabana (Bolivia), two hotels in Iquitos (opting for a trendy non air conditioned one for a few days before we lose the will to live and head back to 'air con-isation' (it's 33 degrees and 90% humidity)). Also planned some day trips and sorted our plans for our self made wine tour in Auckland tomorrow due to the official tour being sold out. All in all very productive. 

At about midday we say goodbye to Sasha and Trent who drop by to say farewell then hit the road back into Auckland to continue the admin day of dropping the car back and taking Mrs B to the dentist!!

It's actually been really nice having a car driving around. Makes me excited about our North America leg. Hopefully we will pimp it up more than a corolla there though. 

We dump the stuff at our hotel and then I drop Nat at the dentist whilst I take the car back to the airport and get the bus back into town. 

The hotel is brilliant and great value for £50 per night. Highly recommend. It's called the Quadrant. It's like an apartment and we have never been so happy to see one of these in our room with complimentary powder... 

Genius touch for us travellers

We are going to miss radio Hauraki though which is an awesome rock channel playing great songs from all the bands we love and not just the usual ones either. 

It's randomly been a very Christmassy day which is weird. The lady at the B and B played Christmas songs all morning, we were greeted to Christmas songs in the reception of our hotel and I then bump into this fella getting off the bus. A 7 storey Santa and his reindeers. 

The weather in Auckland is dismal. It is amazing how the weather changes from driving for an hour south. It's tipping it down here and was glorious up north (don't usually say that!). The temperature has even dropped by 8 degrees to a chilly 21! ;-)

The weather soon clears though and turns into a gorgeous evening. 

Nat got on OK at her tooth hurty appointment. Good job she went though as it was infected (with bad Aids I think). I was greeted to a numb faced dribbling wife when I arrived back - just the way I like her. Unfortunately she has non booze antibiotics for her trouble. Not great prep for our vineyard tour tomorrow!! Decision: delay starting the prescription until Tuesday!

That evening when Nat's pain killers kick in we have a walk around a very sleepy Auckland. It's a nice enough town but not much going on but to be fair it is Sunday. We head to the marina and end up eating in a place called Degree which turns out to be the equivalent of Aberdeen Angus on Argyle Street. One of those hugely popular places that deserve zero popularity for the quality of their food! It fills a gap and Nat appreciated the extra sloppiness of her pasta given her sore mouth. 

Every big city we go to we (or I) have started to play 'Big Four Bingo'. It's a surprisingly reliable game to play in big cities and always had a clear winner. We usually do pretty well with the best building. PWC unfortunately win this round though. Until next time PWC!!

As we have a kitchen we try to buy cereal and breakfast for the morning. Other random fact is that cereal appears to be damn expensive here for some unknown reason. Cheaper to buy breakfast out!!

A bit more admin when we get back the we watch the Shining to scare us before bed.

Day 49 - Goat Island, North Auckland, New Zealand

Another good lie in this morning then greeted by a gorgeous healthy breakfast feast. Got to love this surprise B and B. Such a gorgeous place in a fantastic setting. 

Glorious day too. 

Before we hit the beach we have more admin though. Nat has tooth ache so we need to drive into Matakana to the pharmacy to get some mouth wash and dental floss. Definitely worst things to do on a Sat morning though as the drive is gorgeous. Especially in this weather. We also book Nat an appointment at the dentist. What a great service they have here. We book in at the dentist and time of our choice tomorrow afternoon (ie Sunday!!!) all for NZ$40 (£20). Randomly we book the "tooth-hurty" appointment and have a lot of laughs when I genuinely ask "is it 2.30?" and Nat genuinely replies no it's just gum ache. The oldies are the goodies. 

After our visit to Matakana and my birthday purchase of new swim shorts from Nat we head back to the beach at Goat Island. Matakana is such a lovely little town. It very much reminds us of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Like a model town. 

It's fantastic down at the beach today. A lot busier than yesterday. Goat Island is great as there are virtually no tourists here. It is pretty much made up of New Zealanders and locals getting away for the weekend (I know these are technically tourists but you get my gist). 

Nat's perfect sunbathing weather. Just the right temperature with a lovely breeze. 

Now I can honestly say this picture was not intentional but turned out alright...! ;-)

Scoping out the snorkeling situation. 

Then getting involved. Shame about the leak in my nose bit though. 

I spent about an hour snorkeling, swimming out to the island and back and must say it's pretty rubbish for snorkeling. Bit mystified where this place got its reputation from. The snorkeling was far better in Thailand. I hardly see anything apart from a fish that was about thee foot long and scared the be-jesus out of me!!

Nat wakes up to realise she has been asleep face down in the sand. 

Sexual. 

Some fantastic pics of our gorgeous B and B (Yiannis these are the patio covers that Nat was trying to describe on face time) 

Random palm tree. None anywhere else here. 

That evening we go for dinner at the Saw Mill which is pretty much the only restaurant in at least 20 miles. Luckily it is really good. We have the salmon nicoise (aka the "nick-e-o-see"). Very tasty. 

After dinner we have a very long and disappointing drive to Pakiri Beach. It's only disappointing as after a long, bumpy and windy ride we don't even get to see the beach as it is then a good walk from the car park and it's fast getting dark. Oh well. Great scenary on the way. 

We get back to the B and B and have a great couple of face time sessions with the parents (makes such a difference with good wifi) whilst sampling a bottle of the local Cabernet Sauvignon from Matakana. A few games of cards (to continue my losing streak) and then we curl up in the sofa to watch the Green Mile. So nice to have our own living room and sofa to chill out on! It's these little things we miss.