Visitors from Pittsburgh

On February 25, friends from Pittsburgh visited us at the island. Scott, Deanna, their two kids, and Deanna's mother came over on the ferry. Scott and Deanna were in Auckland at a sustainable engineering conference (How can we get people to use less energy? I don't know, but lets fly thousands of miles to have a conference in the most isolated spot on earth to talk about it!). Their kids (Nate, 4 and Ben, 2) were a delight, and Alexander had a great time playing with them on the beach (though there were some conflicts over use of the waterplane). Our local restaurant, Cat's Tango, did its usual job, informing us after a 40 minute wait that the kitchen is closed for half an hour (at 1:30PM). This beach badly needs a reasonable bar/restaurant!

It was great having Scott and crowd visit: hope we get some more coming out to see us!

Sunset at Matiatia Harbor

Lazy Lounge

One restaurant we really like in the main island town of Oneroa is the Lazy Lounge, obviously a labor of love for a group of friends. Great location in the center of town, this restaurant also has a play area for kids, so Alexander is out of our hair for a bit.

Fun with advertising

Waiheke, for an island with 7000 permanent residents, has more than its share of newspapers. There are the Gulf News, the Wiaheke Week, and the Waiheke Marketplace, all trying to gain your attention. The best aspects of these are the local news and the advertisements, of course. Our favorite ad so far:

Wanted: Shipping Container Anything considered, as long as it is a shipping container. Phone: 372 xxxx

All three come out on Thursday, so Thursday is definitely a newspaper reading day.

Caught up and a beautiful day for a ferry ride

For once, the date of the blog entry is correct: February 18. Today we came back from Auckland after spending a too-short time shopping at the Auckland Fish Market. We'll have to get back there!

Beautiful ferry ride back, with sailboats all around us. Another beautiful day!

Auckland Zoo

We spend the 17th at the Auckland Zoo. Nice zoo in a wonderful setting (lots of trees and plants, and very well designed environments for the animals). Alexander had a great time, particularly since there is an area designed for kids for him to play in.



Jonanne looked after Alexander again, so that evening we walked out to see the Queen Mary II, the huge cruise ship. Drinks at Shakespeares followed by a grazing dinner at Mezze made for a nice evening.

Back to Auckland

February 15 saw us going back into Auckland for a few nights. Our house in Waiheke had been rented out for this weekend before we booked it for six months, so we vacated for a couple of days to let the landlady keep her commitments. So, first we had a wonderful ferry ride over.



Mike spent much of the 16th at Genuine Vehicle Imports, where he did buy a car at last, a 2.5l, V6 Misubishi Legnum, pictures of which will certainly appear soon. Ilona and Alexander wandered about Auckland, taking pictures of some of the interesting buildings around. Auckland is a mix of old and new (with really a bit too much from the 70s and 80s making parts of the city look somewhat generic). They finished the day at the Auckland Library.

That night, we finally had a babysitter for the first time (thanks Joanne!), so we had a very nice dinner at the oh-so-trendy Viaduct Harbor, before retiring to a bar that is becoming a favorite of ours (Mike, especially), the Shakespeare Brewery Tavern, previously seen in this picture.

New Bicycle

Mike spent part of February 13 putting together a new tricycle for Alexander. Alexander is very proud of it, and the ominipresent Mickey has found a place for himself.

Day in Auckland and Maritime Museum

February 12, we went into downtown Auckland for the night. Mike went off to a Turner's auction hoping for a car. No luck that night: the cars he had his eye on were a bit junkier than the pictures implied. Auckland is really the used-car capital of the world: lots and lots of Japanese cars are shipped here (right-hand drive, Japanese rules against older cars on the road, reasonable shipping distances, all make New Zealand a great outlet for these cars), so there will be other opportunities.


After two and half weeks on Waiheke, Auckland feels like the big city, and a hotel room on the 24th floor of the Crowne Plaza the height of luxury. Alexander doesn't look too impressed with the view!



On the 13th, we went to the New Zealand Maritime Museum, which is a real treat. There is a mix of Maori, colonial, and modern ships, nicely laid out on the Harborfront. There are also a number of working ships, including the SS Puke (pictured), a tiny steam ship, which we really want to take a sail on.





Otherwise, we just did some touring about the town. "Tepid Baths" seems very New Zealand.

Whakanewha Regional Park opening

In contrast to the previous day's wine festival disappointment, July 11 saw us at the opening of Whakanewha Regional Park, located a couple of miles from our house. This is a large park with spectacular coastal property (most of the coast remaining on the island is being picked up by gazillionaires for their mansions). The day began with the arrival of the waka taua, a large Maori canoe. This one had about 30 rowers, and room for twice as many others on the boat. After a few circles around the bay (to give them a good chance to chant and stick their tongues out at us), they landed and the official opening began.

The park was opened by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, the woman in the orange shirt behind the Maori with the spear in the picture. She walked within 10 feet of us, with no obvious security (other than the Maori with a spear).

We didn't hang around for the speeches, but there were children's book readings, games, food and a beautiful bay, all making for a great day.

Waiheke Wine Festival

On January 10, we went to the Waiheke Wine Festival, an event we had looked forward to for months. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment. Since we live on the island, it is easy for us to get to the vineyards, pay $5 or so to sample 4 or 5 wines, and then leave with a bottle or three. At the Festival, you pay $65 to enter, then tastings are about $4/taste (!), and you can order wine for delivery. The food was good, and there was music (though a 2.5 year old won't sit still for any music that doesn't involve "mashed potatoes") and people seemed to enjoy themselves, but it didn't really work for us.


Outside the festival, there were some sculptures, many of which had been submitted for the Sculpture on the Gulf walk but were not accepted. There were three wonderful carved wooden thrones that we would have bought if we could have figured out how to get them home. Just the thing for our respective offices.



No day is complete without a little playground time: the island has a number of very nice playgrounds to Alexander's delight.

Sculpture on the Gulf

On February 8, we walked the "Sculpture on the Gulf", a spectacular outdoor sculpture exhibition on Waiheke. We didn't know whether to marvel more about the scupture or the wonderful hillside trail. Here are a selection of pictures. The orange hats and pink scarves are part of the exhibit.