Waiheke...!

Took the vehicular ferry across to the nearby island of Waiheke this week. famous for it's wines and as place to get married-(easy now!). We rented a little bach for a couple of nights, just 10 minutes from the Onetangi beach. Unfortunately the weather forecast for the entire trip was rain; and lots of it!

Still the weather seemed to have other ideas and the day we arrived the sun made regular appearances through the white cloud. Rising early to catch the ferry we only had time for a small brekky and so grabbed a bite and (obligatory) coffee at a café overlooking what was to be our local beach for the next couple of days.

Wow. What a beach. White sand, clear waters and about 1km long with hardly a soul on it. After our brunch we took a stroll along the beach and climbed to a view point at one end. Around this time the sun was really making its presence felt and so into the water we went. Yes, that's WE, Amanda taking her first dip in the NZ sea (once suitably attired of course!)

After our dip we headed up to the bach to relax before dinner. Lovely little place, quite rustic and set amongst the native nikau trees, atop a steep drive and isolated from all our neighbours by the dense foliage. The bach itself was was full of decorative little touches inside and out, with a well stocked spice /oil rack ready for any aspiring cook and even a (nice)guitar

It was however, noisy, very noisy! While our nearest human neighbours could not be heard, the bach was subjected to the constant din of cicadas.

Following another stroll along the beach we had dinner at a place called Charlie Farley's (name mean anything to anyone? Amanda is convinced she has heard it before). Friendly place and great food.

Up early(ish) the following day to make use of a FREE barbecue station adjacent to the beach, which we had spotted on one of our strolls. BBQ steak for breakfast while looking out over the beach to sea, nice huh :0)

Followed this by some exploring of the island and a little wine tasting a the Passage Rock vineyard. Rich tried red's while Amanda stuck to the whites and a sparkling Rosé.

Waiheke is famous for wines made from the Syrah grape grown there (Shiraz) and the reserve was indeed pretty tasty, although with Rich still being unemployed a bit to pricey. Opted instead for a Cabernet Sauvignon. Can highly recommend a bottle of the "Sisters" too; the only reason Rich did not grab a bottle of this is that it was obtainable on the mainland and the "Cab" is not.

Unfortunately the weather had started to live up to the forecast and got steadily worse during the day; culminating in drenching us on the walk to dinner. Nothing another plate of awesome food and wine at Charlies could not fix however.

Day of deaparture it rained all day so did not do too much. Did however manage to find a jar of Waiheke Tamarind Chutney. The bach had a jar in the larder and it's damn tasty stuff!

All in all a lovely place, incredibly picturesque, chock full of vineyards, white sand beaches and twisty roads with barely a thing on them. We will be back...

Yum Cha

Had our first Yum Cha experience this week when we popped along to The Grand Harbour Chinese Restaurant down at the Viaduct, for lunch.

It was obviously a popular choice as it was very busy and we had to wait ten minutes for a table. We were not quite sure what to expect and were a little overwhelmed at first; was delicious however and an enjoyable experience - we will be back.

For those of you do not know what Yum Cha is (neither did we last week!), it's morning or afternoon tea, Chinese style; which involves drinking tea and eating dim sum dishes. These will be a range of dishes, both savoury and sweet. The tea we were served was green and served in a pot. The experience was a little overwhelming at first, as, no sooner had we sat down before a constant stream of staff visited our table offering various dishes; either from a trolley or a tray they carried with them. We had little idea what a lot of them were and the staffs English was patchy at best (so at least we knew it was authentic!).

In the end we ordered a roast duck and then picked a few dishes that looked nice. Amanda even discovered that she does have an adventurous side and both tried and enjoyed some seaweed, although drew the line at chicken feet. In the end we polished of the following, which happened to be just the right amount of food:

• Roast duck
• Pan fried pork dumplings (twice -these were extra yummy) [top right in the photo]
• duck and vegetable egg rolls (like pancakes)
• seaweed (in a dressing- not crispy)
• coconut buns (delish) [top left in the photo]
• a dish we cannot remember!
• 2 pots green tea

We will be back soon, but with more people. Traditionally these are social affairs and the dishes are shared. A superb way of eating a greater variety while keeping costs down too....

Waitangi Weekend

Another Bank Holiday weekend! Almost wish I was at work so that they meant more! Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Maori chiefs signed what is New Zealand’s founding document.
Started the weekend exploring another of Auckland's volcanic peaks, Mount Eden. Great 360 degree views of the city and well worth the climb. Will not go into much detail here though as they are worthy of an entry themselves, something we'll post once we have scaled them all...

The highlight of this weekend was the Chinese Lantern Festival, which forms part of the city's celebrations for the Chinese New Year. The whole of Albert Park was taken over by lantern displays, performances and LOADS of food stalls selling all manner of tasty treats.










We were expecting some lots of small lanterns hanging trees etc - which there were. However there were also large floor standing lanterns depicting anything from a giraffe to the famous dragons. During the daylight hours they are impressive of not exactly amazing. However once the sun goes down they take on a new life, the colours a lot more vivid and the mix of colours more noticeable.














Probably the busiest we have seen Auckland, and due to the concentration of people in Albert Park, even busier than New Year. Nowhere was this more noticeable than around the food stalls. A 200m stretch of road lined with food stalls on either side. Mainly selling Chinese and Japanese cuisine; but much else besides. Rich ended up opting for octopus balls and pad thai, with a drinking coconut and Japanese pancakes for dessert.








Octopus balls(Takoyaki)- no, not octopus testes, but boiled octopus in batter and served drizzled with mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce. Actually quite tasty, if an interesting texture.

The pancakes (Obanyaki) are small and thick and filled with coconut or custard - the coconut filling is the best - mmmm clean saturated fat :0)

After stuffing our faces we headed back into the park and checked out more lanterns and some we had seen earlier in the day; but which were now transformed. Also caught some traditional Chinese dance on stage and a dragon dance in the street which was acrobatic and pretty cool.

The evening was ended with a 7 minute firework display, pretty and LOUD, which is always good, and put the New Years Eve display to shame...