Waiheke Island

The ferry for Waiheke Island leaves every 30 minutes from the pier at the foot of Auckland. Across the street is the bus center and a scurry of activity most of the day. When the traffic lights change for pedestrian crossing all four directions of traffic are stopped and everyone crosses every which way! I would guess about 200 people were crossing this morning when I walked down to the ferry pier. All criss crossing quickly going to work.

I have photos from the ferry, but my hard disk is full and I am unable to delete anything else until I get home and check this out. Perhaps I should just upgrade to a larger hard drive (500MB). These photos take up a lot of room per picture, about 21MB.

Braised brussell sprouts, walnuts,
califlour and golden raisins.

Kelly Keiper Bickerton was waiting for me on the dock when our ferry pulled in. We had been emailing for about a month about this visit. She taught with us at CFPMS for only 3 years, but it seemed longer than that. After that, she married Simon who is a NZ native and they moved here. She is is happily raising two kids, Bradon and Kate in their lovely home on Waiheke Island.

We started with a coffee and catch up about people and places at home. The island has many designated walking trails along the coast so we went for a hike. She showed me some really fabulous shoreline, cute towns and then we got to the business of the day, wine tasting. Each of the wineries we visited had it's own unique feel and design, but all were located with a beautiful view.

One unique place we visited was an olive oil processing plant with tasting room. There were 5
different oils to taste and each had a special flavor. I ended up purchasing two small bottles and a spice mix to bring home.

The day finished with a quick bite in town with Simon, Bradon and Kate and a small beer tasting. I'm

Olive Oil tasting room.

missing Iron Hill Wit Bier! I took the ferry back to Auckland and being beat, I went directly to my hotel after a few pics at the marina. There were several racing sailboats there like the type used in the America's Cup. They are huge at close view.

A short walk back to the hotel to get ready for my last day in Kiwi Land!

Shaking olives from the tree.

Saturday Evening in QT

Seems like this day will not end. I got a message from three of my travel friends to join them for dinner. How nice that Curtis has a car and we don't have to be on a bus again! Since Curtis lives here now (originally from Texas and is Trey's trip coordinator) he knew all the right places to go in the evening. The town is packed and we slip in to a parking spot across from a Hostel. Never been to one and it was quite crowded and noisy. This is an adventure location so I can see why so many people are in this place.

Our first stop was The Cow and old sheep shearing shed made of some local slate like building materials.  We shared a table with 2 people from Denmark and had fantastic garlic bread, a mess of veggies on a pizza in this quaint building. I was a cross between the bar in the Indiana Jones movie with Karen Black that burnt to the ground at the start of the movie and small English Pub. Jackie Evans you would have fit in just right here! It was so dark I didn't really know what I was eating on the pizza. No matter,it was great.

Sorry these are a bit dark and smuggy but the light was low and these are from my iPhone. Smooth wine, pizza and delicious garlic bread. I could see the chef paint garlic butter with chopped garlic over the top then sprinkle with parsley. I will do this at home for sure.

This beer bottle looked huge! It was only 17 ounces but seemed so much larger. This location was the Eichart Hotel, which is the oldest and most expensive hotel in QT. Located right on the lake it only has 10 elegantly designed rooms for rent.

We returned back to the Reese Hotel around 10:00, which was early for this week!

Last Day Dinner

Trey and his wife Tina and 3 children hosted this group for a special finale dinner. He has a separate little cottage as his work studio about 30 yards away from his home. It is landscaped perfectly. The lane down to his home is so narrow and tree covered that our bus is having a bit of struggle getting to the end.

His home has huge glass windows and doors to take full advantage of the view of the Remarkables (mountains) and the valley. The dinner is catered and we are greeted by Tina and a glass of champagne. There are conversations all over and outside as well. He has heat lams on the deck to keep us warm, but honestly the temperature is perfectly cool. The servers stroll  about with appetizers like salmon, macaroons with goat cheese and outstanding scallops.

Dessert is a plate of delicious with small cheesecake bites and raspberry sorbet to compliment. There were several small speeches to compliment the chef and Trey and Tina.

Overall I would say this was an expensive adventure, but so worth it. I saw some breathtaking scenery, met some people I would like to visit again and learned from a world master, Trey Ratcliff. I learned so much about lighting, composition and of course the biggest take away was learning his technique to create HDR photos. I have only completed a few, but I will post them.