Week 5: Wine Not?

Tēnā koutou family, friends, and other readers!

I promise this blog won't be lame like last week's. Blake, my "ranga" blockmate (a derogatory word for a ginger/someone with red hair) actually read it out loud and it was quite funny to hear!

This past week had some excitement, such as my other blockmate Cori getting concussed by a bottle thrown at her head from across the club. We (and the cops) are pretty sure it was unintentional, but the cops visited our dorm to take her statement, which was entertaining to watch.

During the week a bunch of us got $2 dollar tacos and some margs/sangria as we've done in the past. We had a block dinner (Dominoes and ice cream) and played some charades-like games another night. It was a chill week!

Unfortunately I had a bit of a sore throat, which went away after about two days and was replaced with a fever and congested nose. I ODed on vitamins, water, and V8 so that I'd feel better for the weekend in Auckland – it actually helped heaps!

My new Minnesotan friend Abby and I bused to Auckland Friday evening, arriving there around dinner time. She's from the suburbs of the Twin Cities and goes to UMN. We checked into our hostel, which – no surprise – smelled like stinky feet. They falsely advertised that they had free wifi so I ended up paying $4 NZD for 24 hours of wifi. On the up side the bathroom was bigger and nicer than the previous hostel Justice and I stayed at in Rotorua. The hostel had a nice rooftop view of the city, and we got to see the Sky Tower lit up and with a special "20 Years" commemorative light for Princess Diana.

Abby and I strolled down Queen Street and ended up at a movie theater, where we paid way too much to see Atomic Blonde, which was action-packed but kind of confusing. We ate a yummy Italian meal before the movie at Viva Italian restaurant in the theater complex. I found it fascinating that the restaurant was empty while all the surrounding Asian restaurants were packed. People have different tastes here!

The next morning we got a quick breakfast – for her a steak and cheese pie, for me a mince and cheese pie – before heading to the pier where we met up with my friend Corina from ASU! She's been abroad in various countries for the past three months doing research for her thesis on bystander prevention of sexual assault. It was great to see a familiar face and we chatted and enjoyed a windy 40-minute ferry ride to Waiheke Island. It was Abby's first time on a ferry and she was super excited!

Once we docked at Matiatia pier, we hopped on a coach bus for our wine tour! Evelyn, our bus driver and tour guide, was a quirky and nice Maori lady. There were 21 people on the tour, and 12 who had been ziplining joined us later. Waiheke Island is only 25 KM long and houses 8.5 thousand permanent residents, around a thousand of whom commute to Auckland for work.

The main village of Oneroa (meaning long sand in Maori) was a cute street full of seafood restaurants and shops. There are a grand total of nine police officers on the island! And drunk driving is the most common crime, with there being over 38 world-famous vineyards on the island.

The average cost of a home is 850K, and houses on the northern side cost upwards of two million because they get direct sunlight. There are two primary schools and one high school on Waiheke. The island is so small they don't have a hospital! Instead people in need of medical assistance take a 10-minute helicopter ride to Auckland.

Waiheke (meaning cascading waters in Maori) was named one of the top five places to visit in the world last summer, and you could definitely see why as we were shuttled to the first vineyard. We arrived at Stonyridge Vineyard and were served sauvignon blanc first, and a 14.5% glass of merlot next. Our French tour guide was sweet although a bit hard to hear. I did manage to learn that the reason there are roses at the end of each row of vines is so that if disease strikes, the rose will be affected first, so the staff will know to treat the vines. Stonyridge doesn't export because it's a tiny vineyard (so I kind of regret not buying a bottle.) They have their own cork trees, but they won't be mature enough to harvest for another 30 years, so they import cork from Portugal for their bottles.

After our tour we went into the restaurant and had a big and yummy lunch of salad (hallelujah!) and a spinach and chicken quiche, along with homemade olive oil, bread, and cheeses. We met Manu and Moritz, from Germany, who we'd later have dinner with!

Evelyn then took us to Rangihoua Estate, an olive oil business. Our tour guide Sarah demonstrated how to rake olives off a branch, and informed us that there are 3.5 thousand olive trees on Waiheke. Trees are mature at 12 years and there are five different colored olives when they harvest them between April and May. It takes four people about 20 minutes to harvest one tree, and 7 kilos of olives (~15.5 lbs) makes just one liter of extra virgin olive oil! We then headed inside to watch a short video on how the olives get turned into oil.

Basically the olives are thoroughly washed, then put through a machine that crushes the pits, which are later added back in to serve as a natural preservative full of antioxidants. The pulp is kneaded for about 40 minutes during which the oil separates. After that the fruit water still remains with cloudy oil, which is separated until there is clear EVOO. Sarah, our tour guide, told us to always purchase EVOO in a dark bottle or tin can (light affects it) and to make sure the fatty acid number on the bottle is below .8 (otherwise it's not extra virgin!)

Next we finally got to taste a variety of different oils with bread! We also tried their chutney and herbal spread, which were good. They had all sorts of holistic products – soaps, lotions, lip balms, etc – made with olive oil, which was cool! No wonder why Rangihoua is internationally acclaimed!

We then jumped on the shuttle where we learned about a Waiheke dance group called "Hip Hoperation" that consists of 60- to 90-year-olds!

After enjoying some scenic ocean views, we headed up a small mountain to Casita Miro, the second vineyard on the tour run by Cat and her husband Barnett. Miro in Maori means "Fruit of the Forest" and was also the name of Cat's daughter who made a guest appearance. It's also the name of a Spanish painter/sculptor, Joan Miró, who influenced the Spanish vibe of the tasting area and restaurant. Cat and Barnett are very fond of Barcelona and created a piece of it on their vineyard with colorful mosaics made by Barnett. They were lovely – she guided us through our taste test while he was working on the vineyard – couple goals!

The views from the tasting area of the ocean and surrounding lands were stunning, and each glass of wine was paired perfectly with a small bite to eat. I couldn't afford a bottle of the 2009 18.5% Madame Rouge ($85 NZD!), so I bought some of the aperitif-soaked walnuts instead – YUM! I made sure to tell Cat muchas gracias as we headed back to the shuttle.

It was a bit of an event to get back down the mountain as our big shuttle had to maneuver around several cars that were going up the hill. We made it and journeyed to our final stop: Mudbrick Vineyard, considered the most romantic vineyard on the Island. We started with some pino gris as our tour guide led us through the vineyard and up the hill to some breathtaking panoramic views of the ocean and the land. At the top we had some rosé and took pictures. I wasn't paying too much attention to the guide, but I did catch that you don't pick the grapes until after four years and that their roots run 8 meters deep!

That concluded our beautiful and delicious wine tour of Waiheke. I've always been one with a flair for the dramatic so I would go on a world-renown wine tour on a tiny island. Go big or go home, right?

Evelyn, the bus driver/tour guide sang a hauntingly beautiful song in Maori (and then English.) I said "haere rā" (goodbye in Maori) to Evelyn and was super proud of myself! Our tickets permitted us to catch a later bus, so we opted to be dropped off in the main village with our new German friends. We walked along the beach, took obligatory jumping pictures, and then ate dinner at The Oyster Inn. I taught Manu and Moritz how to eat oysters on the half shell and it was hilarious! Then I got an appetizer of salt-and-pepper squid as my meal because that place was not cheap. It was amazing!

It was getting late so we decided to catch the ferry back to Auckland. We befriended a vagabond-y (well, he had been living in his van for a couple of weeks) Kiwi named David who was heading home to celebrate his one-year anniversary with his wife. He was quite an interesting character!

We bid adieu to our German friends, who are in Auckland for several months interning. They're planning on visiting Hamilton eventually so hopefully we'll meet up! Corina headed back to her Airbnb and Abby and I went back to our hostel to figure out what to do and also change into warmer clothes. In a turn of events, we went to a bar to get a free drink with some other people from our hostel. We ended up getting pretty wasted and having fun walking around the wharf!

On Sunday, after three hours of sleep and with a raging hangover (well, for me at least) Abby and I checked out of our hostel and met up with Corina for brunch at a coffee shop where we laid low for most of the day, honestly too tired to do anything else. We Ubered (Abby's first time) to an awesome milkshake place Abby's friend had recommended and they shared an epic snickers/pretzel/carmel creation. (I was still not feeling too great to get anything.) We Ubered back and said goodbye to Corina, who is heading back home to Arizona today! Abby and I spent our remaining time walking around the piers, getting burgers, and exhaustedly heading to the bus station where I snoozed on the way back. We taxied back to UoW and both slept very well that night!

We lucked out with nice weather; it only started raining on the bus ride back to uni. It was a super fun weekend meeting and getting to know new people, enjoying wine and food and gorgeous views on Waiheke, and exploring Auckland!

Next Up: Ballin' at the inter-hall ball! Maybe a scenic walk/Raglan beach/glowworm caves.