My wonderful husband is not normally one for celebrating birthdays, holidays, etc. But he made the mistake last year of taking me on a fantastic overnight trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida -- sans kids -- for my bday.
This showed me 1) he is capable of planning something special for the special gal in his life and 2) he better do it again!
So for my 35th birthday (which was yesterday) he was not getting off the hook. I told him I really wanted -- no, needed -- to get out of town for the weekend. And Friday morning, lo and behold, our plans suddenly came together.
He booked us on a Saturday morning car ferry bound for Waiheke Island, a small, residential island about 45 minutes by boat from Auckland. We would spent the night in a bus converted to a camper made to look like a pirate ship (did you follow all that?). And spend two full days on the island exploring, hiking, fishing, beaching and thoroughly enjoying what turned out to be a beautiful place.
The ferry (through SeaLink, if anyone local is reading) left promptly at 9 a.m. Saturday, and our little car, packed to the gills with fishing rods, clothes, games, food and one smelly dog, was on it. It was a beautiful morning on the water, and the kids enjoyed watching the surf out the window as we chugged along toward Waiheke.
We arrived by 10 a.m. and drove about 10 minutes from the ferry port to a little town called Oneroa. This became our sort of home base for the weekend, as it seemed to be the biggest commercial spot on the island. Oneroa is a quaint little seaside town, with two small grocery stores, a pharmacy, a bookstore, a bunch of boutique-type shops and a handful of really nice restaurants. There's also a beach about a 5-minute walk down the hill from the main strip. And the beach is, well, gorgeous.
We spent most of Saturday morning exploring the town, browsing in the stores and then playing on the beach. A small swingset on the west end of the beach kept the Adorables entertained for seemingly hours. At about 2 p.m., we drove off to find our accommodations for the night at a place called Wild Days.
Let me just say, Wild Days was aptly named.
Those of you who haven't spent time in rural West Virginia wouldn't quite get what I'm describing here, but as a former hillbilly (once a hillbilly, always a hillbilly, I suppose) I felt right at home. The camper bus/pirate ship sits on a 10-acre property in the bush (which roughly translates as the woods, the boonies). The place has a little outdoor kitchen with running water, a rigged up electrical system and an outhouse with views of some of the greenest mountains I've ever seen. Inside the camper are a queen bed, a twin bed, a small couch and a little table. It is actually quite comfortable, quite clean and quite nice -- given the oddness of the whole thing.
And of course, the kids were thrilled by it.
We spent some time exploring here, and then headed back to Oneroa for dinner Saturday night. We picked a place called Solar, which specializes in organic, free range fancy foods and has incredible beach views. The kids munched a few French fries while nose-down in their tablets, and Shane and I enjoyed a nice salad with calamari, lamb chops and mashed potatoes -- and a well-earned apple cider. A perfect meal.
We were pretty much exhausted by the end of dinner, so we headed back to the pirate ship, bundled up in our warm jammies and fell asleep by 8 p.m. Then kids were up bright and early the next morning. We let them play and explore around the property until they started getting on each others' nerves. That's our cue to find something else to do -- and we had something really cool in mind.
We packed up camp, rounded up Moses (our stray, South Carolinan dog who LOVES running around in the woods) and headed toward Stony Batter Reserve, the site of a secret WWII post that's now a park and working farm.
The reserve sits on the far east end of the island in a much more rural area. To get there, we drove on dusty dirt roads that wound up and down these amazing lush, green hills. We had to stop the car several times to get out and take pictures, so blown away were we by the landscape.
And the park topped it all.
From the path that cuts through the reserve, you can see gorgeous mountains, grazing sheep, orderly vineyards and, in the distance, turquoise-blue seas. It's...beautiful. And a really nice walk.
About 35 minutes in, we came to the historic area that has a few building foundations, tunnels, gun emplacements and signs explaining what happened here during WWII. The short answer is, not much. The battery -- funded in part by the U.S. -- served as a defense system to protect the Auckland harbor from Japanese attack. Thankfully, that attack never came. So the giant guns planted here were never put to use. But visitors can still see the big holes that held the guns and the tunnels, dug by hand, used to get around the property. It's a really neat peek at an interesting period of time.
After our hike through the park, we headed back to Oneroa for lunch, this time grabbing burgers at a place called Two Fat Buns. Burgers were good but Shane and I are both dying for an American-style cheeseburger like the ones at Five Guys or Freddy's. (Freddy's, do you deliver??)
After lunch, we did some more playground time and then hiked from Oneroa Beach Reserve, a little park about 5 minutes from town, to a fishing spot on the rocky coastline. Shane lost his bait while the kids and I climbed and explored, skipped rocks and put our feet up for two seconds while taking in the gorgeous scenery.
Then with just two hours until we needed to catch our ferry back to Auckland, we went back into town for a small dinner. Most of the restaurants were closed or closing by 5 p.m. Sunday evening, but one little spot was still open -- and it was a great find.
Cove Bites is a small, full-service eatery fronting the beach. It has a great beer menu and what you'd call elevated bar food. We had another calamari salad (this one even better), little cheese/potato fried ball thingies (super yum!) and the kids' quesadilla since they ate about one bite each. The food was delish. My beer (from Deep Creek Brewery) hit the spot. And the setting was perfect. It was a great bookend to our weekend away.
After saying goodbyes to Waiheke Island, we drove on to the ferry around 6:45 p.m. and were home by 8:30, just in time for the kids to get a quick, much-needed bath before bed. Moses was in his crate sleeping and snoring before the tub water drained -- and the rest of us weren't far behind him.
All in all, it was a fabulous weekend away filled with all of our favorite things: hiking, fishing, camping, beaching, being outdoors together. I loved it.
So thank you, Shane -- and better get started on next year's plans. You've just upped your ante!!
