February 25, 2014. Auckland, New Zealand. Weiheke Island.

Something has happened to my blog of February 24. I wrote it and published it but it is not there. Keeps you humble indeed. We spent a delightful afternoon on Weiheke Island. A short ferry ride takes you to the island, where we were met by our driver for the rest of the day. We visited three wineries, two to taste the wine and a third where we ate a delicious late lunch. We were back to our hotel by 7:00. This place called New Zealand is beautiful. It seems ridiculous to say because we are dealing with islands, but there are lots and lots of coast line. The ferry ride took 35 minutes and the whole way was beautiful as we passed island after island. Our driver works in Auckland and commutes on the ferry, as do many others. We took the 6:00 ferry back to Auckland and the ferry was packed with passengers getting off on the island. Mark was a young man who was serving us the wine in our third winery. He was personable and knowledgable. In May, he and his girl friend are moving to Nova Scotia. He has a three year work permit so hopes to travel and work in Canada. His girlfriend is from Hammonds Plain so they hope to stay in the east until Christmas, then travel west, perhaps spending time in the wine areas around Kelowna. It is indeed a small world. Our first finn day in New Zealand was delightful.