dom m

This past weekend was our one free weekend during our stay in New Zealand. There was a lot of excitement before the weekend began because everyone was going to different places. Eleven of us, including me, decided to go to Waiheke Island, which is to the east of Auckland. None of us knew what to expect. I personally jumped on the bandwagon for this trip mainly because I had my heart set on kayaking, which I actually didn’t end up doing. Kelly was gracious enough to basically plan the whole trip. We managed to find a house to stay in for 3 nights, something I wasn’t aware of until the day before we left. Kelly told me that it was a house that could fit 8 people and that it had 4 bedrooms, so I knew this wouldn’t be a small house. The question was how nice would it be.
It wasn’t a disappointment at all, because after a two hour bus ride and a thirty-five minute ferry trip, we found the info center where we got our key and then started to head up the street. I began to look around and realized that there were only gorgeous houses surrounding me. Being several paces behind and with Kelly leading the way, I suddenly heard cheers and yells coming from in front of me. I knew then that we had reached the house. I looked up and saw that the house had a balcony overlooking 2 bays and the Hauraki Gulf. I was in heaven. We got a little sceptical when we saw three cars in the driveway, but knew we had the right house when the keys opened up the doors to paradise. Along with the great balcony, there was a fully stocked kitchen, two bathrooms, a nice dinning room, and a backyard patio with a grill. We immediately went to buy dinner at the local butcher, and John made steaks on the grill.
The next two days involved going to vineyards, tasting many different wines, eating great food, and sleeping on the beach one afternoon. The last night was one of the highlights for me because we had dinner with our neighbors. When first arriving at the house, I noticed an older couple next door staring at us. I immediately thought that these neighbors were going to dislike us. I can’t imagine living next to a house that’s up for rent every summer. I would hate having a different neighbor every other weekend.
However, when we noticed within two hours of being at the house that the gas to the grill was out, Evan was brave enough to be the first to talk to the neighbors. He came back five minutes later and told us they offered to take him to the gas station to fill up the gas tank. Evan and Mike went with the neighbors’ and got the gas and came back. Evan said that the couple was very sorry they weren’t able to give them a ride back to the house. We were shocked because you would rarely see something like this in America.
Later that night, we were making a lot of noise and were constantly telling each other to keep our voices down. We were also spontaneously breaking out into song. We then saw our neighbour come running up our backyard, and we thought he was going to yell at us for making too much noise. Instead he came in without knocking to tell us that he could only take five of us to see a comet, and that it would be a once in a life time chance to see it. The five people came back and said they had found out a lot about the couple. His name was Boyd and his wife’s name was Colleen. He was an ex-colonel in World War II in the English army. The guys said that they were the nicest people they ever met.
As the weekend progressed, some of the girls got a ride from our neighbors down to the shops where Colleen actually offered them money to shop. We thought we should do something for them since they had been so good to us. Some of the girls went over and asked them if they wanted to come to dinner on Saturday night. They were over there for over an hour, and I was starting to get worried. They came back and told us they had a great conversation while drinking tea with them.
We made reservations at the Indian restaurant for 6:30 and at 5:45, we went over to their place and had wine, champagne, and appetizers. We had a lot of fun talking with them while sitting on their balcony. It’s amazing how the view of the island changed just by going next door. We were able to see another bay from their house. Then we walked 3 blocks to the restaurant and had a great meal. I had lamb on skewers and even though I’m not a big fan of Indian food, I’d have to say it was pretty good.
While eating, many people came in and out of the restaurant and Boyd and Colleen kept on saying, “hi” to some of the people. It seemed like they knew everyone on the island. I suppose it’s pretty hard not to after living on the island for 45 years. After dinner we went back to their place and had dessert. They bought Pavalova which was a cake that tasted like cotton candy. I liked it even though it was very sweet. After sitting in there dinning room until 10:45, we decided we overstayed our welcome and that it was time to let them go to bed.
The next day we got up at 10 and went to another vineyard where we met the owner. He gave us free wine and food because he liked us so much. I was in heaven eating free steaks while over-looking the green rolling hills. The whole day and not to mention the weekend seemed so surreal. I couldn’t imagine experiencing any of this back in the USA.