Christmas at Waiheke Island

Xmas arrived although I can't say that I had much of the fuzzy Xmas feelings I usually had as a kid when I snuggled up in the sofa by the candles, glogg (mould wine) and with pepparkakor and lussebullar (gingerbread and saffron cakes- Swedish way to fight winter depressions).


There were apparently more than 5 m swells when we crossed Cook Strait. I just did like I always have on a boat...I fall asleep..

I escaped the icy cold freezing South Island and drove up to Auckland with Klaus and Warwick in Klaus' beloved Bluebird. Unfortunately we ignored clear warning signs from the bird and one of the CV joints shat itself 10km outside of Taupo on Dec 23rd (Saturday) at 11am. We thought that the chance of getting to the ferry to Waiheke Island in Auckland the same afternoon was pretty dim. No mechanics would like to help us without charging a fortune. The CV was split in two and the optimist Warwick picked up the ball bearings a few hundred meters up the road from where the car stalled in hope to put it back together.







Taupo has some amazingly friendly and service minded people and we were on the road again with a brand new CV joint after 2 hrs. The best news is that the mechanic didn't even rip us off!! That was probably the best Christmas gift!

Waiheke Island was cool. Had lots of snobby rich Aucklanders there...and us..the scum. We stayed at a backpackers called Hekerua Lodge run by a really cruisy Brittish dude Mark. His reception was pretty much a DJ studio with piles of good vinyls. He hired out most of the beds to friends and their friends but a few random backpackers had also managed to find their way there. It was a great atmosphere: sun, cool music, pool with Warwicks XR4000 yacht in it, tree ferns and beer, bubblie, soaking in the spa, forgetting to put the lid on the spa when leaving and resulting in many swear words from the owner Mark, Warwicks quest for the holy car key, Klaus' repeating phrase how Marvellous everything was. I met some really nice people there. Klaus and Karen had been there last xmas as well so they knew quite a few people there already.


Ruth, Klaus and Karen


Xmas breakfast with pickled herring and vodka


Warwick gets excited after attracting girls to his yacht


Warwick's search for the key to Blue bird, the car



A flowering Xmas tree, Pohutukawa, on Waiheke Island


Since I am a girl of action, I got a bit frustrated when it took my fellow travellers 1 hr to walk about 50 meters in Auckland (including examining every single product in a Asian supermarket), so I dumped them and left to Coromandel where I visited Dave and his family: Rene, Lauretta, Thea, Mimmi, Ed and their 3 yr old Will and cruisy 7months old Jack. In summary it was a full house with great atmosphere and so much good food it was sticking out of my ears after a few days.