Waiheke Island

Today we took the ferry to Waiheke island (pronounced as Waihiki). Waiheke Island is the jewel in the crown of the stunning Hauraki Gulf. Waiheke, in the Maori language, means cascading or ebbing water. In November 2015, Waiheke island received international attention when it was rated the fifth best destination in the world to visit by lonely planet.

Gragam, our guide let us see some of the island. The island is 20 km long and 10 km wide. In the winter there are approximately 8000 people, in summer it can go up to 35.000! Waiheke island also has the lowest crime rate in New Zealand. Indeed: Who is going to steal your car on an island? 😁

There are 46 vineyards and it’s mostly Germans who help out when the grapes are ripe. There are also 3 clinic, lots of doctors and a helicopter that can drop you on the roof of the Auckland hospital in 10 minutes. So, according to Graham it’s a place for the newly wed and the nearly dead …Indeed, lots of retirees move to Waiheke, but living there is not cheap. We saw a house near the beach that was sold a little while ago for 3 million euro! I talked to a lady who said that her house had tripled in the last 5 years. Talking about a good investment …(it was actually a comic situation: her husband cheated on her and now he had to leave the island…she told me everything while we waited for the bus :)) I also talked to some nice girls who flew in from Papeete, since Tahiti is only 5 hours away. And a Dutch girl added me on facebook after she told me that she was travelling the world in 1 year (she was 35 and a lawyer with a stressy life and decided to take a year of leave without pay).

Anyway, big news is that there was a street called Ostend street and Belgium street. Apparently some settlers came to Waiheke after the 1st world war. Who knows,  I might have an old and rich uncle there that I don’t know about 🙂

It was again a beautiful day in New Zealand. Tomorrow, the Maori dances and then back to Australia.