Everything they say about New Zealand is true. It is magical and beautiful and has more sheep than people. It has trees and flowers I’ve never seen, as well as mountains, lakes, and deserts. It is, after all, Middle Earth. And it’s also the land of the dinosaurs, but more about that in a later post. For now, let’s visit New Zealand’s largest city and a neighboring island. (I didn’t know it before I visited, but there are lots of neighboring islands!)

For three weeks I explored New Zealand with Sharon, who was one of my travel partners in Greece earlier this year. We landed in Auckland in the afternoon and headed to Queen Street, a popular shopping area. We got our bearings and took ourselves through Viaduct Harbor. It’s a great place to walk, eat, drink, people watch, and admire boats. I was particularly excited about the last part, but my first beer from New Zealand in New Zealand was great, too.

We spent the evening at the Viaduct and were glad for the sunshine that woke us the next morning after the clouds of the first day. We went out in the opposite direction towards Mount Eden, from which we’d been promised the best views of the city. (We soon learned that New Zealand’s best views only get better.) We explored Symonds Street Cemetery on the way.

The hike up Mount Eden, the first of many hikes that largely characterized our three weeks, was beautiful and a lovely welcome to New Zealand. The sun was shining and we could see so much of Auckland and its environs.

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We took a taxi back towards the Viaduct from the Mount Eden neighborhood, intending to take a ferry to one of the beaches. It wasn’t warm enough to swim but it was certainly warm enough to take a walk on the sand. Instead, though, the driver suggested we visit Waiheke Island and go wine tasting. We didn’t need much convincing and I loved everything about it from the start.

The ferry ride was beautiful . . .

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. . . and so were the flowers, vineyards, and walking trails.

We visited Wild Estate, Te Motu, Stonyridge, and Cable Bay and I have only good things to say about all of them. We watched the sunset from Cable Bay, too.

We had a bit of an adventure getting back, for which we can only blame ourselves. The lady at the ticket counter said they ferry departed every half-hour and we neglected to verify that even though we were carrying the timetable. Turns out that as the day grows later, the ferry leaves every 45 minutes . . . and then every 90 minutes . . . and so we were stuck at the Waiheke Island ferry terminal from 9:40pm-11pm. Oops.

The next morning it was time to say goodbye to Auckland pick up our car, a white Toyota Yaris that I named Sylvia, and begin our North Island road trip! Stay tuned!