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Escape to Waiheke Island
Dance parties in vineyards? Yeah!
Every city has its nearby summer community that brings the sophisticated sensibilities of urbanites to the country to chill out. New York has the Hamptons, Los Angeles has Baja, and Auckland has Waiheke Island.
Waiheke, beautiful and pristine, with great food and wine options, no spiders or snakes, clean waters, plentiful snapper to fish, and more than 20 restaurants and 100 places to stay, is still comparatively laid-back. Like many of these now stylish haunts, Waiheke was an established counter-culture haven in the 1970s, where seekers flocked to explore various aspects of alternative lifestyles.
That all changed with the advent of the Fullers speed ferry in the 1980s, reducing the treacherous three-plus-hour crossing to a mere 35 minutes (45 minutes if you take the ferry where you can drive on and drive off). Aucklanders with summer "batches" (simple beach shacks) started building primary residences on Waiheke, and now there are 8,000 permanent residents, 1,000 of whom commute daily to Auckland for work. There's also a round-the-island bus service to accommodate commuters. That's left hippies kicking themselves for selling off the $10K plots they once owned, now that the land alone would be worth more than a million dollars.
The residents who stay year-round know they are onto a good thing. There are two well-established catch phrases you're likely to see on roadside signs as well as bumper stickers on Waiheke: "Far Enough Behind to Be Ahead" and "You're Here Now, Slow Down."
I was part of the summer influx to Waiheke, which swells the population times five to a bursting-at-the-seams 40,000 souls. From my protected perch in my suite at the swank Delamore Lodge in the Matiatia Estates (just 12 minutes from the Auckland airport by helicopter to the resort's own helipad), I overlooked lovely black sand Owhanake Bay. Aucklanders, who boast the highest boat ownership per capita, were sailing and docking in the protected area; it's still free of charge to drop anchor here.
Waiheke, beautiful and pristine, with great food and wine options, no spiders or snakes, clean waters, plentiful snapper to fish, and more than 20 restaurants and 100 places to stay, is still comparatively laid-back. Like many of these now stylish haunts, Waiheke was an established counter-culture haven in the 1970s, where seekers flocked to explore various aspects of alternative lifestyles.
That all changed with the advent of the Fullers speed ferry in the 1980s, reducing the treacherous three-plus-hour crossing to a mere 35 minutes (45 minutes if you take the ferry where you can drive on and drive off). Aucklanders with summer "batches" (simple beach shacks) started building primary residences on Waiheke, and now there are 8,000 permanent residents, 1,000 of whom commute daily to Auckland for work. There's also a round-the-island bus service to accommodate commuters. That's left hippies kicking themselves for selling off the $10K plots they once owned, now that the land alone would be worth more than a million dollars.
The residents who stay year-round know they are onto a good thing. There are two well-established catch phrases you're likely to see on roadside signs as well as bumper stickers on Waiheke: "Far Enough Behind to Be Ahead" and "You're Here Now, Slow Down."
I was part of the summer influx to Waiheke, which swells the population times five to a bursting-at-the-seams 40,000 souls. From my protected perch in my suite at the swank Delamore Lodge in the Matiatia Estates (just 12 minutes from the Auckland airport by helicopter to the resort's own helipad), I overlooked lovely black sand Owhanake Bay. Aucklanders, who boast the highest boat ownership per capita, were sailing and docking in the protected area; it's still free of charge to drop anchor here.
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09:50 EST, 06.Nov.07