Live Life With Tasha

If you’re in Auckland, visit Waiheke Island. Waiheke, also known as New Zealand’s Island of Wine, is 40 minutes by ferry from downtown Auckland and is the second largest island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand.

Oneroa

I got the ferry at 7am and it was busy, so make sure and get to the ferry terminal early. The first thing I did when I arrived was make the 20 minute walk to Oneroa – the closest village to the Matiatia ferry terminal. The walk was along a pavement, beside a quiet main road with forest on either side and the sounds of the cicadas in the trees was deafening, but in a good way. In Oneroa there were plenty lovely little cafes to grab breakfast or a coffee so we chose to get something from a place called Island Gelato. I also noticed a bike and scooter hire shop, which I imagine keeps busy, as Waiheke is certainly somewhere I’d like to return to and discover further by bike.

EcoZip Adventures

After making my way to Oneroa, I then made my way back towards the Matiatia ferry terminal where I was picked up by a shuttle bus which took me up the hillside to EcoZip Adventures. At EcoZip Adventures I spent 3 hours taking part in their Zipline and Forest Walk Tour. This involved 3 zip-lines, with the main one being 220 metres and reaching speeds of 50km above a forest. The final part involved a 30 minute walk back up the hillside through the native forest whilst learning facts along the way. Unlike in the Jungle Book, the vines growing in the forest grew from the ground up so weren’t much use for swinging between! Also, silver fern is a species of tree fern found only in New Zealand, and since the 1880s, has been accepted as a symbol of New Zealand’s national identity. You’ll see the silver fern as part of the logo for New Zealand Air and on the All Blacks jersey. As I learnt during the forest walk with EcoZip Adventures, the underside of silver ferns are silver (hence the name) and at night, they reflect the moonlight, making them useful for navigating forests in the dark. Which is helpful to know for anyone who finds themselves disoriented in a forest in the dark whilst in New Zealand!

Vineyards

After the morning activity, it was time to head to some vineyards. Waiheke has over 20 vineyards and I only managed to go to 3. The vineyards I visited were all within walking distance of each other. The first was Tantalus Estate, the second Te Motu and the third Postage Stamp. One glass of wine and some truffle fries in the first and a wine tasting in the second and last.

Onetangi Beach

By the time I’d worked my way through the vineyards, the last thing I did before catching the ferry back to downtown Auckland was hop on the bus to Onetangi Beach. This sandy 2km long beach was the perfect place to end the day with an ice-cream before going back to the city.