Beaches and Baches

The Waiheke-mobile
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From Auckland, we took the 35 minute ferry ride across the Hauraki Gulf to Waiheke Island. One of our Kiwi friends from work, Tony, has been kind enough to allow us to stay in his beautiful beach house (called a bach), perched on top of a hill overlooking a secluded bay. Excited by the prospect of playing house, we stocked up on goodies from the local butchers and greengrocers (then realised it was a lot cheaper from the Supermarket in the next village) and rustled up our first home cooked meal in almost 3 months.

Claire at work
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The first night brought with it an almighty storm with gale force winds; we thought we were in danger of losing the roof at one point! The weather’s been touch and go ever since, but we’ve spent some lovely days exploring the island, visiting the numerous beaches and bays, eating great food and drinking Tony’s wine (only joking Tony!). Tomorrow is the annual Onatangi beach races, billed as horse, tractor, and egg and spoon races along the sand – looking forward to participating in that!

we thought we were in danger of losing the roof

Making friends with the locals
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Thanks for letting us stay Tony, we’ve loved every minute.