Waiheke

Waiheke Island

With classes not started yet, the big 10 decided to go to Waiheke Island. It’s a 45-minute ferry ride from Auckland. We all sat on the top of the boat and took pictures of the beautiful islands and peninsulas we passed. We got to Waiheke and discovered it was a hike to the good beach – we sort of decided swimming in the harbor was not a good idea. So, at various speeds, we started on the hike, fragmenting off. Pree wanted to kayak; some of the group got into a bus, which I thought was a bit dodgy. In the end, it was just Rachael, Kevin and me.

We hiked quite a bit – I missed most of it because I was on the phone with my mom. We finally arrived at Oneroa beach. For those of you who have seen Prince Caspian, it was exactly like the scene where the kids arrive in Narnia. We stepped out of an overgrown path, hot and sweaty, onto a pristine and nearly deserted beach. It was a small crescent of white sand surrounded by lush forest, but big enough to be extremely comfortable. Shells the size of a bar of soap – and just as round and white – dotted the beach, whole and clean, looking like the birds had just moments before nibbled up their occupants. Sailboats sat lazily in the water some way out. Clouds straight out of Toy Story – flat on the bottom, puffy and full on top, and white as snow – hung about far away in the sky. To complete perfection, someone had tied up a tireswing in a tree. We swung around on the tire, then stripped down to our togs and splashed around in the warm, shallow water. It was pretty clear – you could see your feet, though they were a bit greenish looking. Kevin kept being afraid of “creatures” like sharks. I was a bit more rational (maybe) and was more afraid of sting rays, having seen someone be stung by one once  in California. I was careful to shuffle my feet. I floated along on my back for a while, splashing at Rachael (she didn’t appreciate it). After a while we all laid out on our towels to dry and warm up, and to read the tourist info we’d gotten about Waiheke’s beaches. I slathered on the sunscreen. J

As we were laying there, who should walk up but Tommy and his girlfriend. Random! We talked a bit with them, and they highly recommended getting a bus pass for 8 dollars. All day, anywhere you wanted to go. After laying out a bit more and saying goodbye to Tommy, we walked down to town, where we found a bus station and paid our $8.

Next stop: Onetangi, which had a much longer beach, and many more people – probably about 30 of them over the course of a mile. We went for a walk along the beach and saw a little pug bodysurfing on the waves, which was pretty much the coolest thing any pug has ever done.

We stopped at a seaside restaurant for dinner, and ended up getting cheeseburgers because it was the cheapest thing. I got L&P, a NZ soda (the bartender seemed concerned when I ordered, since I’m obviously American: “You know it’s from New Zealand?”).

We ate on the deck, and could see almost nothing besides sea and sky and shore – I think we must have sat there for at least an hour, just soaking in the beauty. Of course, we saw Tommy there (random!) but he didn’t eat with us.

We still had our bus passes burning a hole in our pockets, so we decided to stop at Blackpool on the way back for a change of scenery and to see if it was really black. Onetangi is famous for its vineyards; we passed a few small ones on the way out, but none of them seemed to be open to the public. Next time I will investigate further.

Blackpool was really just a neighborhood. It was high tide and the beach was nearly completely underwater. By that time it was getting darker and a breeze was kicking up, so none of us felt like swimming. We played on their miniscule playpark, then walked about talking about which of the houses we wanted to buy with our imaginary millions. We followed a path up to another street, and watched the beautiful sunset from there. On the way back to the bus stop, we heard a bunch of Kiwis singing Green Day in someone's house. Waiting for the bus, we stargazed and found Orion (who is upside down here) and the Southern Cross. The other constellations are completely foreign to us, but very pretty. On the bus back it was just us and  - you guessed it – Tommy and his girlfriend and her friends (Random!!). They were just coming back from Onetangi I think. On the ferry back we met up with the rest of the big 10, and sat in the covered area of the ship playing hand games like you learn at camp. I was tired, so I didn’t play. Instead I leaned back and closed my eyes and thought about the beautiful beach at Oneroa.