I Felt Lost and Found with Every Step I Took: A Waiheke Island Daycation

Today I tried something different and hung out with a few different people from the australearn group. This proved tedious at times, and hilarious at others and overall I enjoyed myself.
We started the day by getting a few people’s classes figured out. I’d already done this, so all I did was go on the computer and talk to a few friends. I also got my phone today for really cheap, about 60USD, its very simple but gets the job done. Its a pay-as-you-go phone which most all new zealanders use, and most of the time people only text because its so expensive to call.

Its hard traveling with a big group of people (10plus) like we did today, because everyone has different ideas about what they want to do, and anywhere you go, you start a line regardless of whether there was one before you got there.

So after everyone got squared away, we took the free bus down to the water and ferry station.

Auckland is so funny because on the way to the station, people were complaining about how it was raining out, and it was getting a little bit cold, but by the time we got to the island, it was hot and we almost all ended up with sunburns.

But anyways, the ferry to Waiheke Island takes 45 minutes and only costs $25 bucks (12 USD). We met a girl named Hazel on the boat that was backpacking around for her winter term away from Dartmouth and invited her to explore the island with us.

On the ferry, passing Ragitoto Island, a volcanic island in Auckland's bay
A trip for next weekend?

The beach where we spent most of our day

People go to school here

As you can see, we didn’t make it far. We just explored this little crescent shaped cove the whole day, climbing a rocky hill to get to another equally beautiful beach. We ended the day by splitting bottles of wine made on the island and eating fish and chips on the beach. We had to get our food before the place closed at seven thirty so employees could catch the local bus back to the ferry. Our server was nice about it, but the island time is a funny concept to grasp; nothing was open past 7:30, so we were stuck watching the sunset practically alone on this beach. Great.