World Tour Stop 4 - Auckland, NZ

City of Sails

We flew in to Auckland from Honolulu on Air NZ and all I have to say is that American airline companies should take note, Air NZ was a fantastic experience. The check in process was great, along with boarding and customer service. They served way too much food and rather than having drink/snack carts come up and down the aisle all the time they had an ordering service in your seat back screen where you could select complimentary snacks and beverages (alcohol included for an international flight) and they would bring it to your seat. Anyways, great experience and as a Delta loyalist I was quite impressed.

We checked in at our airbnb which was right in central Auckland by the sky tower and the viaduct harbor. Definitely a highly trafficked tourist location, but perfect for our needs. You can walk everywhere and there are so many food and drink options nearby. One note about the location is that we parked about 20 minutes outside of town because all of the parking is hourly, so either don't bring a car or be prepared for hefty parking costs or a long hike.

The first night we took a stroll around the harbor and then had dinner at a pub and tasted the Monteith's local ales. Early night because we were experiencing a lot of time change differences as well as having spent 9 hours on a plane.

The next day we had booked the Waiheke Island food and wine tour through Fuller's and definitely recommend doing this. You can do a choose your own adventure option and buy a ferry ticket to Waiheke and then get transportation around the island upon arrival, but we found the cost to be comparable to booking a tour and having a guide take us around to select vineyards, plus it is always more fun to meet new people from all over the world.

First, the ferry ride from viaduct harbor to Waiheke takes about 45 minutes and I suggest getting on the top level because the views of the city backdrop and the small islands off the coast are gorgeous.

We started with Stonyridge Vineyards where we tasted a couple of wines and learned about the cork trees and then had a lunch prepared with chicken and spinach pies (looked like a quiche) and side salad, along with more wine of course.

From here we went to the Stonyridge olive production. They produce olive oil from a number of different kinds of trees and it is all done by hand right in Waiheke.

The third stop was probably my favorite. We stopped at Casita Miro which is a small vineyard with Spanish style wines and tapas. The vineyard was so cute and our guide Amy was hilarious and knowledgeable. We also got to taste a blend called summer aphrodisiac that was a port style wine and it was delicious and hilariously labeled.

Our final vineyard stop was at Muddy Brick which has the best views. They are a popular wedding venue (163 booked in 2019) and had some very tasty wines and a great backstory.

All in all, the wine tour was great and more than worth the cost to explore a part of the country we might not have seen otherwise.

That evening we also visited the Sky Tower and went up to the Sugar Club. You can just buy tickets to go to the top to get the views, but the other option is to go have a drink at the Sugar Club and get close to the top and not pay an entry price. As the most notable building in the Auckland skyline this is definitely a bit of a tourist trap, but it felt like a can't miss.

Day three in Auckland we decided to drive to the west side of the country to Piha. We drove through the Waitakere Ranges and stopped along the way to hike the Kitekite falls track (about 45 min to the waterfall and then another 30 min to the top) and then drove a little further down the road to Karekare falls and black sand beach. The hike to Karekare falls is more of a stop, it's about 500m from the car park so super easy to grab a couple quick pictures. The real attraction was walking down to the beach which was our first black sand beach of the trip and absolutely gorgeous. The water was freezing but that didn't keep surfers away and the picturesque skyline of a beach in the middle of mountains was insane. Add this to the must visit list for sure.

We ended our stay in Auckland (the city of sails) by taking a dinner cruise on a sailboat that night. It was an impromptu decision that I am so glad we made. It was both of our first times being on a sail boat and it was great. We booked with Explore NZ and the crew was amazing. Jesse and Niall (both very attractive New Zealanders!) were actually professionals that sail for NZ in competitions nationally. They are coming to the States this summer as well as competitions across Europe and Asia. They were great and definitely enjoyed making fun of our southern roots. The dinner cruise was about $100/person so a bit on the pricey side, but again, we felt that if we are in the city of sails then we should do the most popular excursion.