Today Jay, Simon and I went out to Waiheke Island which sits about 20km east of central Auckland. It's been the first day that the weather has been great from dawn til dusk and it wasn't too hot because the sea lowers the temperature.
We looked at hiring a car for the day as it was only NZ$50, but the deposit was NZ$750 and we were reluctant to risk that, so we walked and took the bus instead. We only got to visit one beach and the main village on the island, but it proved more than adequete. We stopped off at Palm Beach (opting for that over Blackpool Beach!) and it really was stunning. For those of us who aren't used to such beaches, the sight of litter-less sand and relatively clear water is something to behold. We had a drink and a cake in the afternoon sun (it's a hard life for some!) before moving off back to the ferry terminal and back to our hostels.
This evening Simon and I met up with Jay to say goodbye to him, since he's off on a Kiwi Experience bus tour tomorrow. He'll be in Sydney at the same time as me though, so I'm sure we'll meet up again.
Incidentally, on the way to the pub I spotted a shop called "Pie Mania", which definitely deserves further investigation!
