waiheke island, new zealand

My family and I spent a stunning day on Waiheke Island, the second largest island in the Hauraki Gulf of the north island of New Zealand. We boarded an early morning ferry across the gulf, taking us roughly forty minutes to the island. We transferred from boat to bike to take us around the island for the day. We began our route circumnavigating the island (thank goodness we had e-bikes, as the trek was extremely hilly), stopping along a coast of beautiful beaches and taking a dip in the crystal clear and calm waters of Palm Beach. We stopped for a lunch of fresh and hot fish n’ chips at Onetangi Beach, and then continued our route to one of the many wineries on the island. Surrounded by a lush green tropical landscape and the constant white noise of cicadas, we enjoyed sipping on local wines and aperol spritzes. Slightly more tipsy than we should have been riding bikes along an open highway road, we managed to finish our bike route in one piece. We then decided to hike a trail up a long and winding hill to one of the wineries. We found a nice sunset spot in the grape fields to have a picnic and watch the sunset fall over Auckland in the distance.