Our great walk

Waiheke Island is a 40 minute ferry ride into the Hauraki Harbour outside Auckland. We spent last Saturday walking around in some beautiful sunshine. Waiheke is home to 27 wineries, incredible given it’s size. We tried to get into Mudbrick for a tasting but after a three kilometre walk, we were turned away because some couple decided they needed to get married.

Here is a pic of our 1993 Toyota Camry which has brought us safely to the South Island. The ride down from Auckland should have only been eight hours but we logged 11.5 due to construction along State Highway One and a massive accident, just outside Levin, about one hour north of the capital Wellington.

Beautiful scenary in Tongariro National Park.

 Our car needs a name. Any suggestions?

We’ll have one last BBQ with Hayden and Co. in Auckland before heading in our 1993 Toyota Camry for Wellington. We’ll spend the night and rise early to catch the (very expensive) ferry to Picton on the South Island. We expect a five hour ride to Christchurch where we are going to work our arses off (according to Warren) at an organic vineyard for a couple of weeks.

As a little granola, I’m always on the lookout for ’signs of sustainability.’ On Waiheke Island, the park toilets were worm composting, and the Mudbrick wine yard we tried to have a tasting at (it was closed) is certified sustainable and organic by a NZ organization. Waiheke Island is also hosting CultureFest, a massive musical gathering (that we unfortunately won’t be attending) and it claims to be zero-waste, zero-impact.

This place is gorgeous…it all feels very surreal after an eight-hour layover in Hong Kronkers (Wade and Lisa: I was too wonky to leave the airport but I’ll hit you up on my way back).

 We are in Northcote Point, a hilly subhurb, staying with Lindsay’s pal Hayden. The house is fantastic, and the neighbourhoods remind me of sunny, southern Cali, and Vancouver.

Drew picked me up in our car…a 1993 Toyota Camary wagon and has some minor scratches from a game of pick-up rugby he survived.

I leave Toronto in about five hours. The flight will be longer than the one I took almost five years ago to Bangladesh; this one registers 30 hours in the air. The flight path: Toronto, touch down in Anchorrage, Alaska, an eight-hour layover in Hong Kong (thanks to Wade and Lisa for the mini-itinerary), and then onto Auckland (and the wineries, and the beaches, and the farms, and Drew).

Hongi is a traditional Maori greeting where individuals press their noses together. Drew left on January 6 for New Ziwi – I wonder if he is pressing noses with strangers. I’ll find out when I join him in 10 days. Welcome to our blog chronicling our anticipated year-long adventure in New Zealand.