Auckland and Waiheke Island

Luckily, we decided to have a walk in the morning before heading to Auckland, on a beautiful beach near 'Sailor's Grave. It was lucky, because there was a big crash on the road we had wanted to take and 3 people were killed, so we may have otherwise been involved in the crash too, if we had gone directly. Fate!
 Anyway, the walk was stunning, the beach empty and the weather kind to us once again.
 I will miss beaches when I am back in Switzerland. Nothing can beat the sound of the waves crashing in.
 Auckland, City of Sails, and by far our largest city. I have not stayed in the city itself for decades so it took a bit of getting used to the amount of traffic and so many people. I really enjoyed the stay though, especially the nighttime lights. It really is a pretty city, particularly at night.
 With perfect weather, we set off to Waiheke Island, about 40 minute ferry ride from Auckland.
 Waiheke is better known as the Island of Wine and is really a fabulous island with masses of long, sandy beaches, warm waters, forested hills and dozens of vineyards making some very good wine, mostly red.
 Onetangi Beach was like a beach on a tropical island, and it was almost deserted!
 What a wonderful place to stop and sit and chat to one of your best friends!!
 How I wished I could have been this rider galloping along the beach. They have horse races on the sand once a year here!
Dennis and I decided to take a walkway which went through some of the many wineries. It was fantastic.
 We parted company because Dennis wanted to see a little more of Auckland and I wanted to taste some wines. My first stop was Stony Ridge, where I had a very small taster of their Sauvignon. Mmmm delicious - and what a fabulous place to sit and sip wine!
 Then I was really luck to meet a lady named Julie, who was showing a French girl around. She invited me to join her winetasting and because she was driving, let me taste all her wines. Most of them were reds, and all absolutely superb. Te Motu wine - a small vineyard with amazing wines.
 It is also a stunningly beautiful place - but then so were all of them.
 My next stop, only 15 minutes away, was a much more commercial operation, Tantalus.  The people were not as friends as the little Te Motu vineyard, but the formal garden was fabulous.
 Yet another brilliant place to taste wine and enjoy the perfect temperature.  Of course, a visit to the loo was a must after all that tasting, and I am so pleased I went there. What an incredibly lavish toilet!
 Unbelievably, as I was waiting at the bus stop, a car pulled up and my neighbour from Christchurch offered me a lift! What an incredible coincidence! He was really kind and dropped me off at the biggest and most commercial of all the vineyards. I would not have been able to do a tasting there if I hadn't been taken there, because I would have run out of time. As it was, I had time to do 4 small tastings and enjoy the gorgeous views and the sunset over Rangitoto Island. Fantastic end to a truly wonderful day.


 So the time had come to set off to Europe. I loved the very laid back signs at Auckland airport. Time to say 'goodbye' to Dennis for a couple of days. He was flying via Hong Kong and I via Singapore.
 I just adore Singapore. As my friend Irene says, it is my little oasis en route to Europe. It is a paradise ! Next stop Zuerich.

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