Kia ora! Hello!

Waiheke Island has been on my Aotearoa bucket list ever since I was old enough to genuinely enjoy wine, not just drinking it at a BYO.

We had a long weekend booked to Auckland as we had tickets to see Flectcher, however her gig was postponed, but that meant more time to get hangs in with my friend we were staying with.

Saturday morning we got up and flew to Auckland nice and early and a couple hours later a group of us were on the boat over to the island.

• Return boat ticket for anytime throughout the day and hop on/off bus ticket around the island- less than $90each

• Tasting flights varied in price from $20-$30

  • First one - good food!

  • Second one - great view of the ridges, artists go there.

  • Third one - Staff came and told you about the wine and the history throughout the tasting, which now that I am a bit older and enjoy my wine I thoroughly enjoy this.

Sunday the three of us head out to Auckland CBD as we had seen a couple places on tiktok we had to go try out amongst looking through some of the Vintage/Second hand stores on K Road - .sustainable living should not be that expensive!!

• Sneaky Snacky - Donut burgers, I could now have all of my burgers this way!

• Cocoa Wilds - hot chocolate with a toasted marshmallow fluff around the top.

• Sneaky Snacky Donuts - so many yummy options, we got the tiramisu.

We had a late eve flight Monday so we had all day to kill, starting by getting a ride to my friends work and figuring out what to do from there. First things first, coffee!

• Takapuna Beach cafe - beautiful view of the beach and the horizon, even on a chilly day it was still nice to sit outside and would be the best eggs on toast I reckon I have had out. It is such a a basic meal, but trust me the amount of average or even sub par serves I have had should be illegal.

• Shopped around Queen St, multiple times. Happened to not purchase too much which is lucky as we had packed real light, however I did cave at H&M….

• World Press Photo Exhibition - incredible! Was my first time going to it and I can see why my wife loves it. Some of the photography is amazing, and then when you read about it it just hits you that little bit more. Lots of snaps of war, immigration, environmental issues and family. Highly recommend if you get the chance.

• Harbour Eats - love this foodcourt in Commercial Bay upstairs of Little Queen St (as mentioned in prior Auckland posts). I tried to stay away from my usual Taiwanese XL chicken nugget, and found myself a dairy free carbonara which was delicious.

Overall, was a great three days away getting out to somewhere familiar but finding plenty of new foods and experiences.

Haere rā! Goodbye!