Vino revolution!

So a few of you are going to read this and think ‘Oh god, she’s off again for how long?’, but no just a short jaunt over the ditch for a wedding - a little holiday while I plan the next big trip ;)

I was invited to a wedding in Auckland and as I hadn’t been to NZ before managed to wrangle a few weeks off to have a look around.

The wedding was great, the brides Katy and Anna had a fantastic day and a bunch of us stayed in a big house together which was fun.

As most people had flown over for the wedding the big day started a mystery tour around the city, with stops including the waterfront area where all the bars and restaurants are, this amazing ice-cream store and the last stop being the wedding venue.

Katy and Anna's wedding.  Photos courtesy of my pilfering from Pete and Kristy.

The wedding was pretty unique, all starting a cocktail on arrival after the mystery walk.  There was a cool revamp of old traditions such as tying the knot and jumping over the broom and some great speeches – if anyone ever needs advice on speechwriting talk to Jenni, somehow she started with calling her sister ‘Stinkface’ and ended with half the people at my table searching for their tissues.

So it was a great day and a great excuse for a trip, but as mentioned in some of the speeches it’s just a pity that this destination wedding was by necessity, not by choice.

So now I’m just going to have a little rant about Australia’s current marriage laws.

I cannot understand how two consenting adults in a loving, committed relationship can be told that their relationship is not recognised and in effect is not as important or equal to other relationships.  It’s embarrassing.

It’s embarrassing living in a country being governed by a party that pro-actively works against equality.   

This is not Animal Farm where some people are more equal than others.

Equality means treating everyone the same, not picking and choosing.  It means giving everyone the same opportunities and rights.  That includes equal rights to healthcare, education and to marry without prejudice (all things the man in the budgie-smugglers seems keen on fighting against).

Anyway, rant done – now back to the holiday.

So the holiday actually started with a free boot clean for my hiking boots from the immigration guy at the airport, followed by Emily and I getting dropped off at our hotel only for reception to tell us they had no booking.

‘Are you staying at this Waldorf?’ said the reception dude.

‘Uhh, is there another one?’ said Em.

‘There are five,’ said the reception dude.

‘Ohh.  Can you name them?’ said Em.

Luckily the one that sounded kinda vaguely familiar was only a two minute walk away and turned out to be the right one!

Oh by the way, a few people flying in were getting a surprise to the tune of $90 when they taxied from the airport to the city – for future reference just google super shuttle and they will drop you anywhere for $36.

We found Auckland not be at all what we were expecting – I was imagining a big country town thinking it’s a city and crappy weather.  However what found seemed a bit like a little Sydney – a proper little city, hilly but still nice to walk around and the weather was great.  Sunny beachy days and warm nights, except once when it rained and we walked an hour in the rain back to our house – that was still nice though.

One day we all caught the ferry to Waiheke Island.  It was fantastic and again not what I was expecting from New Zealand – it was like being in Port Douglas or some other beach resort town. 

From the ferry we followed a little bush trail to the town where we had a really scrummy lunch – I had these delicious cauliflower fritters with haloumi.  Then the water looked so inviting, vibrant greens and blues and crystal clear and the sun was so warm, that we just had to go to the beach (and yes, we totally waited 30 minutes before swimming).  And there we met the Beach Ambassador, a friendly old fellow whose job it is to wander about chatting to tourists, making sure everyone is having a good time and remembering their sunscreen.

After that we headed out to a couple of the wineries and partook in a little tasting and did some more snacking.  The wineries in Waiheke are lovely, and the wine is good too!

Waiheke Island

The Melbourne crew in Waiheke

Soaking up the sunshine and wine

After everyone else had flown home I had a day or so left so I went hunting for hobbits.

Matamata is about three hours from Auckland, the land is flat and there are lots of veggie and dairy farms and it’s almost like you’re driving around out the back of Boisdale or Newry.  But then you turn off the main drag and flat land turns into steep hills dotted with sheep and trees and suddenly you’re in hobbit-land. 

The movie sets look amazing!  All these little hobbit holes built into a hill, with English gardens and vegie patches.  And the Green Dragon Inn is in good working order with a free beer or cider on arrival.

But the tours are so over-crowded, half the time you can’t hear what the guide is saying and the rest of the time she was trying hurry everyone up, rushing us through because there was another tour ten feet behind us.  And the tour behind us was full of school children – which was bullshit.  If you’re going to have small people on the tours they should at least be dressed like hobbits!  Anyway, the rushing was a pity but I found a couple of nice single serving friends to hang out with for the tour and have a spot of lunch with before heading back to Auckland.

Next stop South Island!