Waiheke Island

This weekend we went to Waiheke Island and spent time going from beach to beach collecting sand and looking for shells.  We got on the ferry bright and early at 8am on Saturday morning and were off to Waiheke.  When we got there we walked from Kennedy Point almost all the way to town but caught a bus.  Almost the first thing we saw when we got to Waiheke was this sign and we thought it was so clever.  We then spent the day hopping from one bus to another to get to the different beaches that I wanted to see. 

The first one we went to was Onetangi Beach, this was the farthest from the city but it was so beautiful.  We walked along the beach I collected some sand as well as some pretty cool shells, there were heaps of these small spiral ones everywhere.   It was a nice day for walking on the beach because the wind was cool, but it was still mostly sunny!

  

We thought maybe this was a treasure map but it was only an old piece of paper with nothing on it!

Then we got on the bus and tried to get to Palm Beach but the driver had other ideas you could say.  One of the stops before Palm Beach was Rocky Point and when we arrived the bus driver announced where we were.  Several people got off but several of us didn’t move because this was not where we wanted to be.  The bus driver then looked in the mirror and said Rocky Point again.  Laura shook her head no and then again the bus driver said Rocky Point.  This time the guy sitting behind us spoke up and said, “No mate we want to go to Palm Beach not here!”  The bus driver told us that Rocky Point was the end of the line and another bus would come through in about 30 minutes and that driver could take us to Palm Beach.  We all looked at each other and hopped off the bus to see what was at Rocky Point because we now had 30 minutes to kill. 

Well luckily there was a little trail and it went out to this small peninsula that turned out to be pretty cool.  But when we got back to the bus stop we waited for the next bus to come I was looking around and noticed that the bus we were on never left, and a few minutes later the SAME driver started the bus up and drove to the stop and said, “Palm Beach?”  We were all so confused but we hopped on and off we went.  I guess he must have needed a break. 

So we eventually made it to Palm Beach and it was another great beach to walk on, climb the rocks, and spend some time.  We found more seashells and there were kids running and playing in the water. 

From there we meant to go to a winery because that is what Coromandel is known for.  We had plenty of time before the ferry was going to take us back to town but we got into this van with a shuttle driver.  He was something, that is about all I can say about his personality and his name was Max.  He lives on Waiheke and drives around picking people up and taking them where they want to go.  We got in and he asked where we were from, we told him the United States, and all of a sudden he was going on and on about the United States.   

Turns out he lived in Rhode Island, and went to grad school there.  Then he asked us what state we were from and when we told him Wisconsin, he replied, "Oh yes I have spent a lot of time in Wausau, WI."  I was so amazed because I couldn’t believe that he would have been to Wausau.  He asked us if we knew what Wausau was world famous for and after sometime thinking and knowing that it couldn’t be the Badger State Games, I came up with kayaking.  I was right, the reason he has spent so much time in Wausau is because his son is a huge Kayaker.  So much so that he was in the last Olympics and Max has been to Wausau to support his son in the World Cup Races, held downtown.   

On our journey with Max he did take us to a lookout above Palm Beach and let some people off there and dropped others off several other places so we did never make it to a winery but we did meet someone named Max who has been to Wausau. 

 

Max also rated us on a paranoid scale, something he does with all the people he drives around.  He told us that most Americans score above average on a scale of 1 to 10 at about a 7 or 8.  We also learned that Australians generally score the lowest of all visitors, and he thinks this is because criminals founded Australia and they invented the saying “No Worries Mate!”  Anyways we scored a 2, so I guess we are not very paranoid, and I think that is a good thing!