Auckland Scene

Out and about in Auckland

Waiheke

The Waiheke Sculpture on the Gulf walk

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I’ve been meaning to walk Waiheke’s headland Sculpture on the Gulf trail for ages and finally last weekend I did. It was also the hottest day we’ve had so far this summer (of course!), but my friend had come over for the day so along we shuffled and nattered under the blazing sun and this is what we saw…

The views!

If you want views to to upload killer Instagram pics then the Sculpture Trail has it in spades. Here are just 4 of my favourite photos, but I could have filled this post for days!

Outside of this event, there are plenty of other trails and walks past lavish homes and rolling hills, so allow a couple of hours on your next visit to Waiheke to wander along one.

View from Waiheke

The sculpture!

From 250 initial proposals from artists, 34 were eventually selected. What I would have liked was a brief description from each artist as to their inspiration and meaning. Maybe artists just don’t do that lest they take away from my interpretation, but honestly some were too wacky for me yet probably had a cool story if it had been told.

So I probably need to write a small disclaimer here: I don’t really understand “modern” art. Wacky art. The Emperor is wearing no clothes kind of art. Don’t get me wrong, there are several stunning pieces here – and they’re all for sale. But some? Welllll, I’ll let you decide whether you want to fork out a cool $20K…

Sculpture on the Gulf

I did like this one. Like fish hanging on lines to dry with carved tuis on each post

This installment was weird! Buried gemstone, it was called. Bricks by any other name! And it could be yours for $21,000

hSOTG

I loved these flying birds catching the light. I understood that!

headland sculpture on the gulf

This was cool too. Phantom Fleet made from marine grade stainless steel. Three waka hanging in the gnarly pohutukawa tree and all for sale for around $50K each.

Waiheke sculpture walk

Nope sorry. Didn’t get what this hose reel was about. We did wonder how the artist would recreate it exactly for the buyer too!

Waiheke sculpture trail

I’m sure this had a good meaning. Some kind of totem, but it was lost on me.

Waiheke scultpure walk

This was a close call with the bricks as to wackiness. Sorry. What? Why? Who would?

The coloured panels are called 12 Intervals and made of plywood. This could be yours for $26,000

Waiheke headland walk

I liked this one too.

These are just some of the amazing and weird installations and you have from January 27 to February 19, 2017 to see them.

For more info including buying your ticket for $10 (however they call it a donation) with your ferry pass, click onto headland Sculpture on the Gulf website >>

A taste of luxury on Waiheke Island

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A visit to Auckland is best done accompanied by a glass of the local nectar and if time is precious, then a day on Waiheke Island is the place to do it!

The sparkling Hauraki Gulf is dotted with islands and the largest is Waiheke, inhabited by 8000 people and home to 20 wineries that roll gently over its lush green hills. It takes about 30 minutes by ferry from downtown Auckland to Matiatia where a bus, taxi or even car and scooter rentals are your ride into Oneroa, the tiny heart of the island about two kilometres from the ferry terminal.

Here you’ll find cafes with tables spilling outside to drink in the views of the many bays and beaches that surround the island. Boutiques, homeware and souvenir stores vie for attention alongside antique shops and a small grocery store.

Browse along the main street, sit down for a flat white coffee and plan your wine tasting day, because the options are plentiful. Or better yet, book a bach (local holiday home) make a weekend of it.

Waiheke

This is worth driving over a dirt road for!

Five wineries to visit…

Man O War Bay

If you have a car then a trip out to Man O War Bay should be on your list. It’s about a 30-minute drive across the island, bumping over dirt roads and hills affording stunning ocean views, to a private bay where boaties pull up in summer to drink the famous wines and nibble on the equally famous lunch platters.

Don’t expect a full restaurant with tables covered in cloth, instead it’s a casual affair for friends and families to make their selections at the cellar door, then sit at an outside table under an umbrella while the kids play cricket on the lawn and when the tide is in, they can swim.

Passage Rock

Another family-friendly winery, Passage Rock knows how to keep the children entertained so the adults can get on with the serious business of wine tasting. The wood fired pizza oven will keep everyone happy and while the kids are bouncing on the trampoline or in the sandpit, you can sit back at an indoor or outdoor table among the vines and enjoy the day.

Their reserve Syrah is the most awarded wine on Waiheke with 18 gold medals and six trophies. The bistro is open only on weekends in winter.

Mudbrick Vineyard

Mudbrick’s exquisite gardens have been nurtured for 25 years and are the first wow that ensures visitors get their cameras out. Herbs and edible flowers mingle with cleansing teas and a formal design that draws you up from the car park. The restaurant offers local New Zealand flavours and stunning views, but for a more casual experience, the bistro, next to the cellar door and gift shop, spills outside onto the gravel path and is great on a fine day picking at small plates and trying their wines.

Cable Bay Vineyards

Located a stone’s throw from Mudbrick, visitors to Waiheke for just a day often choose these two. The energetic can even walk from Oneroa, about twenty minutes away (or two minutes by car).

Relax under the white canopies on the veranda with groovy lounge music and a bottle of Rose, or sink into a beanbag on the huge lawn that rolls down into the view of Auckland city. For something really special, book for lunch or dinner in The Dining Room. They also often have live music and events inside and outside in their sculpture garden.

Te Whau Vineyard

The drive along the peninsula to this winery is part of the enticement for coming out here. The restaurant and cellar door look down over Waiheke’s Kennedy Point or across the Hauraki Gulf back to Auckland, for spectacular 360-degree views. This is a small family-run winery with a big reputation for Chardonnay (which you can only buy in their restaurant) and a Bordeaux-style Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot called The Point.

 

 

Getting here

Take the 35-minute ferry from downtown Auckland to Waiheke.

Cost NZ$36 return per adult, $18 per child, $98 family.

 

 

Man O' War has a large lawn, picnic tables, and platters to die for. Photo / Megan Singleton
Man O’ War has a large lawn, picnic tables, and platters to die for. 

This post first appeared in Mabuhay Magazine for Philippines Airlines

 

Waiheke Island: lunch at Cable Bay

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There is nothing more sublime than taking the ferry from downtowb (about 30 minutes from either downtown or Halfmoon Bay) and landing on Waiheke Island for lunch in the sun.

I popped out on New Year’s Day and the aforementioned sun was smiling. It clearly knew we were going to be seeing a lot more of it over this classic kiwi summer we’re currently basking in.

From the ferry you can catch a cab or a bus. We had arrived at Half Moon Bay and there a ricketty old bus owned by the unlikely named Jaguar Tours charged us $5 per head to take us where we’d like. Cable Bay please.

Cable Bay Waiheke Island

From the carpark, descend the stairs and the view is through the foyer

Cable Bay foyer

Restaurant to the left, wine bar and tasting to room to the right

I’ve never been here before, but owner and winemaker Neill Culley produces a mighty fine drop here onsite and new co-owners Loukas and Caroline Petrou have added some new touches when it comes to style and relaxing. Cue bean bag chairs arranged on the infinity lawn that drops into the view of Auckland city’s skyline and a sunken outdoor dining area under umbrellas for a cheeky wine in that sun instead of the fine dining restaurant.

Cable Bay bean bags

These are so popular you need to jump quick to get one!

Cable Bay outdoors

A glass of wine outside under an umbrella is just the ticket

Herbs and veges are grown in a garden out the front and sculptures dot the lawn making a great photo op – or play thing, depending upon your age.

We had a good look around, checking out the private cellar in the low-lit basement where small groups can dine or taste Neill’s wines under a chandelier and surrounded by his best drops in bottle and barrel. Another meeting space is available upstairs for private functions. And before or after lunch – or instead of – you can hang out in the bar and tasting room, and order small plates for that outdoor dining area.

Cable Bay wine cellar

The wine cellar is perfect for a really special dinner

But it was the main restaurant we had a booking for. A table for 4 was set up in the window of this large dining room. It’s lighter than it was with a new paint job freshening up the walls. Chef Sam Clark has been here about 3 years and his tastes and presentation are perfect. Expect to pay $25 for an entre and $45 for a main.

Cutting to the chase, here’s what we had:

Cable Bay starter

The smoked venison was our pick for entre – although their pate was to die for!

Cable Bay snapper

Our table had steak, lamb and pork belly, but this snapper dish was our pick for fave

Cable Bay dessert

This chocolate mousse dessert with sorbet and apricots was perfect

Expect to hob nob with Auckland’s elite (those who have homes on Waiheke – you know who you are), and a few internationals have been known to helicopter in too. Cable Bay is really popular for weddings, for obvious reasons. I’ll definitely be back!

Click here to visit the website of Cable Bay Vineyards

A perfect weekend on Waiheke Island

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And so it was that myself and six family members found ourselves on the car ferry gently chugging from Auckland’s Half Moon Bay to Waiheke’s Kennedy Point for a weekend of frivolity and hilarity. Sans children.

Nicknamed Waibiza for our quick cousinly vacay, we drove ten minutes to our bach. Now I must stop right here. When I say bach, I do not mean like the one my grandparents had at Te Awanga on quite possibly the roughest beach in Hawkes Bay. When I was a kid the sand was long and wide. Today the bach is hanging there by the skin of its piles having been smashed by waves several times over the ensuing decades. There is no longer any sand and it’s only a matter of time before the current owners (who bought it for $1000) will abandon it.

No indeed. We had booked Waiheke White House, which sounds either like an official residence or one that has poles in the lounge. Neither are correct.

White House Waiheke

The deck handily doubles as the coffee and paper spot in the morning and wine and cheese at 5pm

This place is plush and huge. It’s a two-story home with decks all around to capture the sun any time of day. It has two living rooms, two bathrooms, a dining area off the new kitchen and sleeps eight. Three double bedrooms open out onto the aforementioned decks where various members of our party were gathered for functions like newspaper reading or coffee drinking.

Upstairs the living room has a daybed that is actually a king-single bed in disguise with a trundler bed underneath for making into a king for an eighth person.

Two bottles of wine from a local vineyard were waiting for us, plus a pot of Waiheke honey and a little bag of coffee. I was in my happy place.

What’s nearby?

Turn right out of the gate and in two minutes you’re wandering down the path to Little Oneroa Beach. This tiny bay has a children’s playground, a dairy and the owner makes a fine flat white. Next to them is a fish and chip shop – which does a mean wonton! Then on the beach front each night a mobile pizza oven pulls up to make delicious kebabs and pizzas to eat right there or take back home.

Within ten minutes walk is the main township of Oneroa that bulges with cafes, restaurants and shops along the main street. Plenty of brunch options abound.

Which wineries to visit on Waiheke?

We visited five wineries over the weekend and these three I would recommend taking some time to stop in at for a while:

Man O War Waiheke

The cottage at Man O War Vineyard

Man O War
Located at the far end of the island and reached by about 30 minutes on a dirt road – or you could just bring your boat – this is a hike to get to, but worth it. I had heard great things about their platters, so we ordered about five for the table, some cheese and some with meat. Both outstanding.

I love Man O War’s sauvignon blanc, so happily quaffed that while shooting the breeze, although not literally as we were sitting in a marquee with roll down blinds to protect us from that effect. Tables were dotted on the lawn with fellow imbibers under umbrellas and kids played cricket at one side of the lawn as the low tide sat about twenty metres away. Perfect.

Waiheke winery

The famous and scrumptious platters!

Cable Bay Vineyards
Even since last summer a lot has changed at this winery that is the closest to Oneroa – in fact about two kilometres away, so an easy stroll from the shops.

They still have their fine dining restaurant, but there’s a new tasting room which has allowed for the former tasting room to become a more casual dining option. Then out from that they have built the Verandah – a sunken outdoor dining area under huge white canopies. Bean bags are dotted on the lawn that stretches into the view of Auckland city and a new pizza oven accompanied by groovy lounge music means it’s easy to while away an afternoon here.

Cable Bay Waiheke

It’s very easy to stay until after the sun goes down here!

Mudbrick Vineyard
Set above a formal garden that will have any green fingers in your party twirling in circles, this has a lovely Italian feel. A styly dining room with white cloths is sought after for the multitude of nuptials held here, but walk along the gravel path to the tasting room and choose a flight from $10.

We decided not to queue up behind the tasting tour bus that had pulled in ahead of us, so pulled up enough outdoor chairs and ordered by the glass to enjoy drinking in the view with our splash.

Mudbrick

How about a wine tasting tour by helicopter? This left Mudbrick and landed on the other side of the trees at Cable Bay!

 How to get around on Waiheke

If you don’t take your car (at $160 without passengers) there are a few options on Waiheke for getting around:

Rent scooters or a car, book a wine tasting tour bus to hop you around several wineries without the need for one of your party to remain sober, or taxi.