I lived in Auckland for four years, and have never been to Waiheke Island! So during our recent visit to New Zealand, when my mother-in-law suggested we take a day trip to Waiheke, I was all in! I had heard so many great things, and seen awesome pictures! Sign me up for the 9am ferry! I said. Little did I know the mishaps that would arise following that decision….

*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*

Okay so like I said, Katy (my mother-in-law) and I decided we needed to maximize the day, and get up early to catch the 9am ferry. We did our research, and booked a ferry and bike rental combo-ticket the night before through Fullers.co.nz.

The next morning, we woke up, packed up and were JUST about to get into the car when we checked the traffic app. Traffic was still heavy, and we were estimated to arrive at the Ferry Terminal after our ferry was departing.

Wa-wah.

That’s okay! We’ll catch the 11am ferry! I thought. This would leave us enough time to quickly go shopping at the mall before heading down to Davenport.

At the mall, we made a special stop for Antipodes lipstick (I’m obsessed) and then I wanted to go check out the bikinis.

I’m going to the store. Meet me there!

I said to James and I took off running.

The store. That’s all I said. He had no idea where I was going. I did realize this, but I thought, I’m just going to quickly browse and see what they have, and I’ll catch up with them as they pass by the store. The mall isn’t very big, only two levels, one strip. I won’t miss them.

So a few minutes go by, and peek my head out of the store. Katy and James are no where to be found. Now, I have no cell phone and even if I could get my hands on a cell phone I didn’t know what number I would call.

Naturally, I started running. After lapping the mall a few times and checking out a couple stores I thought they might be. Nope. I started asking people “Have you seen a tall guy, with an orange hat?” No one had seen them. Finally after about 30-minutes, I decided to head back to the car and hopefully meet up with them there. Thankfully that worked and we reconvened at the car, with still plenty of time to catch the ferry. Off to Davenport we went!

Parking in Davenport was a nightmare. After a bit of driving around, we found a spot. It was a bit tight, so Katy jumped out of the car to help James reverse in. After a couple tries, James decided it wasn’t going to work… and he drove off!! Leaving his own mother on the side of the road. After finding a parking space a few blocks away, we headed back down to where we left Katy. She wasn’t there! Remember, we had no phones. No way of getting ahold of her. Thankfully this time all we had to do was keep walking towards the Ferry Terminal and we ran into her.

We finally made it to the terminal. Tickets in hand, and despite all the mishaps and lost persons and parking – we even had time for coffee.

Once seated, we ran into James’ friend! Completely random, he was headed to Waiheke too. We started chatting and soon we heard “Ferry to Waiheke” over the speakers, and lined up to get on the boat.

I got my tickets out to show to the staff, “Nope, nope we don’t need those. Put them away”. So I did. We settled onto the ferry and off we went…. to downtown Auckland. Yup, we pulled up into the heart of the city – not Waiheke.

Related: 15-Day North Island Itinerary: New Zealand

That’s weird, we thought. Our friend said, “Sometimes they stop in Auckland to pick up more people and then continue to Waiheke”.

Reasonable, we thought. So we chatted away. Sure enough, several minutes later we were back in Davenport.

Am I in a dream?! My mother in law said.

We asked the ferry staff and he said “No, no this ferry will never go to Waiheke, only between Auckland and Davenport. The ferry to Waiheke leaves in 10-minutes”.

Crap.

Off the boat we went.  Once back in the terminal… no ferry. Nope, the next Ferry to Waiheke doesn’t leave until 1:10!

Shoot.

So our full day at Waiheke has now been completely halved. In order to kill time, we went out to lunch in Devonport and made sure we made it back to the ferry terminal with plenty of time.

The ferry arrived and this time they were collecting tickets. And believe me, I made sure this was the right ferry.

Related: Three of Our Favorite Hiking Trails near Auckland

About thirty-forty minutes later, we arrived at beautiful Waiheke Island! Right, now it was time to collect our bikes! The trouble? Which bike place was the one that we had bought tickets for?

“The one with the red sign”, someone said. Of course, there was more than one red bike barn. Finally, we found it. After filling out paperwork fit for renting a freaking-car, we ended up with our bikes. And we took off like rockets up the 1km climb to the other side of the island. All that pent-up energy, we raced up that hill.

Katy showed us the restaurant where we were going to eat lunch, a beautiful place called Wai, over looking the water.

Next we made it to Cable Bay which was a stunning vineyard with quite perfect views. Situated on the top of a cliff, overlooking the ocean and with views of Auckland’s skyline. We sat on bean bags, sipped on wine and enjoyed the view.

Related: Frequently Asked Questions About New Zealand

The view from Cable Bay

Unfortunately that was the only winery we made it to. We had to catch the last ferry back.

Like these photos from Cable Bay? They were taken with our Go Pro Hero 5 Black, which we love! We love that it’s so versatile. Our first product review is coming soon… until then, check it out on Amazon here!

The island was really beautiful and next trip to NZ we are definitely doing a re-do! James and I want to rent scooters for a full day of wine-touring. There are so many wines left untasted and vineyards left un-explored!!

If you find yourself in Auckland for a day, I definitely recommend this day-trip! 

Don’t miss a post! Sign up to our weekly newsletter by clicking here!

 

Want to start your own website?

*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*