Waiheke Island, NZ

Sun 8 Feb, 2009 - Auckland (Waiheke Island)
On a ferry by 10am after booking the tour, having breakfast and walking down to the pier. We were off to Waiheke Island today which is one of the larger islands and is almost an extension of Auckland due to amount of people living on the island and a popular weekend get away. It was a busy day due not only to the long weekend though it also had the annual Race day at Onetoa Beach. On arrival at Waiheke we boarded a bus which did a quick island tour and got a bit of history as well as getting our bearings. We jumped of at the last stop before the bus went back to the ferry terminal at Onetoa beach to check out the action.

The beach race day was a fascinating event.
It included horse races for all ages though people mainly from the local pony club, it showcased speed, trotting and jumps. Other events included tug-o-war, sand castle and sculpture competitions and possibly the most interesting the sea legged race. This race was for boats on wheels!! The boats were rigged with three wheels (one front and two back) which hinged upward once at sea. So the race included two legs - a beach drive and the sea speedboat. It was certainly about timing the lifting of the wheels and starting the motor in relation to the waves and water depth. A definite skill. Along the beach they were quite slow but once on the water they were of course very mobile. The winning boats lost their markings and went further than they needed to which closed the gap after the first lap. Then at the finish line the lead boat slowed to cross equal first - too close to call finish. A little rigged but great fun to watch!

After two hours we continued to circuit the island and headed to Rocky Beach. The bus was running extremely late so we only had 15mins to have a glance. We didn’t feel like waiting another hour for the next bus. Went back across to the east side and jumped off at Palm Beach. Had an icecream and sat looking out over the beach. Nearly missed the bus an hour later as we were waiting at the wrong stop. Though obviously used to tourist stupidity the driver waited the couple of minutes for us to run around the corner. Made it back to the ferry terminal and ventured off on the hourish walk around the point on the bi-annual Sculpture exhibition. All the works were for sale. One scultpure which was fascinating was pink builders string strung half way around and up the hill. The even more interesting fact was the asking price for a pile of string!! I mean not only where would you put sculpture but surely after a few more months in the weather it would be destroyed?


Due to the extra numbers on the island for the events of the weekend an extra ferry was operated which worked out perfectly for us. Returned to Auckland and had some leftovers for dinner before later that night getting a glimpse of the Fireworks to finish lantern festival.