Traveling with Ray Owens

Today was our last day of the Viking post extension trip. It has been a very good trip. Tomorrow most of the people are heading back to their home. We have another two weeks of fun before we get home.

Today was a fun day all around. Our day began with a ferry ride to Waiheke island. Waiheke is 36 square miles with 9500 residents. They have a micro climate that makes them a couple of degrees warmer than Auckland. The soil and temperature and rainfall make it a very good place to grow wine grapes and also olive trees. So they do. The other booming industry is catering to tourists. So they are very good at that.

We took the 9 am ferry to the island arriving at 9:45. Guess how long the ferry takes to get there? Good guess!

We were met by several local guides and we were lucky enough to get in the small 12 person Mercedes minibus with our driver “Steve”. He was very informative on all things Waihekeian.

Our first stop was Oneroa one of the two small villages. How small is it? There is a bank that has posted on the door their opening hours. 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Tuesday and Thursday. Not a busy place. But if you are a tourist looking for hats and t-shirts made in China, this is your place.

We had three planned stops. The first was an olive grove and olive press. We were there for olive oil tasting. I did taste it. They provide little chunks of bread for dipping. The different blends and kinds of olives did taste different. I think I prefer my olive oil to have a little bit of balsamic vinegar mixed with it like they do at Olive Garden. But it was very educational nonetheless.

The proprietor told us that the oil was extra virgin olive oil because of the amount of oxidation in the oil must be extremely low. I recall being told in both Italy and Israel that to be labeled extra virgin the oil must be the first cold pressing using only mechanical methods of separation (no chemicals), such as a hydraulic press or a centrifuge. Well here in New Zealand the first cold press does not seem to matter. Nevertheless it was nice olive oil.

Our next stop was at a vineyard and we had a wine tasting. The sommelier gave us the rundown on each wine. Now I have been to a number of wine tasting places but I have not always tasted. I am beginning to think it is the same racket that a football coach uses when the reporter asks what are they going to do in the second half. “Well…….” Different words same meaning. The wine all has a full bodied, hearty, nutty or fruit taste with a hint of oak, moca, honey and a pepper or spicy kick at the end. A mix and match. Maybe I am just a bumpkin from Cactus, Texas, but that is my opinion.

We then went to a different winery where we had lunch. The lunch was good and the dessert was pretty spectacular. Coconut ice cream with strawberries and a plum purée drizzled over. Very, very good.

We then took the ferry back. We spent much of the day with Judy and Tom. They are delightful people who we have gotten to know. We decided to eat dinner together this evening. Since we finished lunch about 2:00 PM we opted to eat at 7:00. We decided to eat at the pub at The Shakespeare hotel. The oldest hotel and pub in New Zealand. A very pleasant place

When we got there a nice guy at the bar told us we could order our food at the bar downstairs and then eat at the restaurant area upstairs. Penny and I were going to order fish and chips but at that moment they were delivering an order of fish and chips to someone else and we saw it. It was a huge meal so we opted to split the one order. No problem. But when Judy and Tom ordered the same exact thing a different fellow said the restaurant wasn’t opened. They said but Ray and Penny just ordered the same thing and went up there. There was a bit of a go round before the first nice guy stepped in and got the order placed.

So up we went and sat upstairs. In a bit they brought one order for Penny and me and Tom and Judy said to go ahead. We got finished and still no second order of fish and chips. We could see the two people cooking and so we finally asked them and they said there was a mix up and it would be ready in three minutes and it was.

That was when google maps gave us the runaround finding Scrunchy Millers real fruit ice cream shop. We got to the corner and turned right like google said and could not find it but we did see a place on the left called Ice Ice Baby. So we went there and in little print down near the street the sign said Scrunchy Millers. I had the flavor Hokey Pokey and it was great.

A continuation of nice days.