Last weekend we went to a magical place of hope and wonder called Waiheke Island. It's a 45min. ferry ride from Auckland, and is filled with beaches, art galleries, wineries, and alpacas. With highlights like that, and with its relaxed island feel, you instantly want to lie on the grass and start singing.
The best part of the day was getting to see skipping alpacas. Cue Azzuro Groves. It is a boutique farm where you can taste olive oils. My group, however, had bigger aspirations.
“We would like to pet your alpacas, please.”
A nice lady handed us some alpaca food, and the alpacas came awkwardly skip-running towards us. If you have never seen an alpaca in real life, it looks remarkably like a sheep on stilts. Those sheep are pretty talented, too, because not one of them lost its balance while we were there. If I were a sheep on stilts, I would fall down. Actually, if I were a person on stilts, I would still fall down.
After playing with the alpacas, we visited Onetangi Beach and Palm Beach. Onetangi has a great shell collection, and Palm Beach has impressive rock formations. At Palm Beach, my friend and I started taking lots of pictures: pictures of rocks, pictures of us on rocks, pictures of rocks with boats in the distance, etc. We had traveled a little ways down the beach and just rounded a corner when a voice urgently whispered behind us.
“Um, guys?”
We whipped around, cameras poised to snap even more pictures, only to discover that we were on a nudist beach. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting that one. I’m not quite sure who looked more shocked, us or the naked old people who we unintentionally had pointed our cameras at. I feel like they really need a sign: “WARNING. There are naked people around the corner. Proceed at your own risk.”
Don’t worry; we also visited some of the 38 wineries located on the island. Aside from some decent wine, Stonyridge has a pretty vineyard, Wild on Waiheke has a good brewery, and Te Whau and Mudbrick both have fantastic views.
You may be asking, “Does this island you speak of really exist?” Absolutely it does, people. Come visit, drink a glass of wine, and avoid the nudist beach.
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