Our first time on Waiheke…
Our most recent trip back to New Zealand was one of my favourites, I think because we explored a little more. Every year when we head home, we try to see one other city as well as Nelson, where my family live.
This time we decided we’d stay a few nights in Auckland to see a band called Jungle that our friends are on tour with. I’d only been to Auckland as a kid, but I love the bright lights and excitement of a big city and having already explored Wellington a couple of years ago, it seemed like a good time to stop over.
Any time we go anywhere, Jordan lines up a list of coffee shops to try – especially in NZ where the coffee game is strong. I like to wander and take photos, so it suits me just fine. I tag along, have my one morning coffee and snap photos while he samples various filter coffees, lines up flat white flights and shots espressos!
One thing I did want to do while we were in Auckland was to visit Waiheke Island which sits just off the coast of Auckland and is known for its vineyards. The only day we could go was Good Friday, and New Zealand has super strict alcohol laws around holidays so we knew we wouldn’t be able to do a wine tour, but we were spending a week in Marlborough after our Auckland trip so we weren’t overly bothered about missing out on wine tasting. It was enough just to see the beautiful island!
Time for a bike tour!
Jetlag had us up early, so we started our day with a trip to Chuffed in Auckland for breakfast. I had a vegetable omelette and a green juice and it was exactly what I needed to set me up for the day. We sat out in the outdoor area which was lovely first thing on a sunny morning.
From here we headed to the ferry terminal, along with everyone else in Auckland it seemed, and queued up for the boat. It took around 40 minutes and wasn’t overly expensive from memory.
We didn’t have much of a game plane when we got there, but we knew we wanted to cycle around the island – I just looove cycling in the sun! Luckily there’s a bike rental place not far from the ferry terminal and we were able to hire electric bikes, which are essential on a hilly island like Waiheke. They were a lot more expensive than regular bikes, and Jordan and my brother Matthew almost talked me out of getting them but I don’t know how we would have managed if we didn’t. Even with the electric bikes, it was exhausting. It was totally worth it just to see the incredible views from the very top of the steepest hills, it was breathtaking!
floral wrap dress // gold hand necklace // basket bag (similar) // white converse
I had been recommended Mudbrick Vineyard as a lunch stop so we headed there, stopping a couple of times to take photos. It was seriously beautiful cycling around, there’s so much pampas grass and the skies were such a dreamy cornflower blue. I love hearing the native birds chirping away too.
Mudbrick is set up on a hill and is surrounded by little olive trees, rows upon rows of grapevines and lots of lovely lavender. There’s a restaurant and an area for wine tasting, which definitely made me wish we had come on any day but Easter…
We walked around a bit and I snapped some photos – you could see all the way out to Auckland, which looked so futuristic with the Sky Tower making up the skyline. I got a bit snap happy but the boys didn’t seem to mind – or at least they knew better than to complain!
We decided not to stay at Mudbrick for lunch; instead we hopped on our bikes and headed in the direction of Onerea Beach with the hopes of finding a supermarket for a picnic lunch near the water.
We came across The Island Grocer, a cute speciality supermarket with lots of delicious organic food. This is still one of the prettiest shops I have ever come across, their branding and the shop itself is just the cutest.
We grabbed some olives, cheese, fruit and hummus and headed down to the beach to eat lunch in the sun, it was an afternoon well spent and a good way to do it on a bit of a budget too.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the little shops near the beach, before cycling around as much of the island as we could cover before it was time to get on the boat back to Auckland. Waiheke is the place to go for incredible views and lovely sandy beaches, we couldn’t believe just how dreamy the vistas were.
If you find yourself in Auckland at any point, I really recommend escaping the city and taking a trip to Waiheke… although probably not on a holiday, the wine tours look too enticing to miss!
Are you adding Waiheke to your travel bucketlist?!
