A Day Trip to Waiheke Island

Day 4 of our North Island, NZ, Road Trip:

Wine tasting at Tantalus Vineyards, Waiheke Island

Waiheke island, also popularly known as the Island of Wine, is a renowned world-class wine destination just 45 minutes from downtown Auckland. Don't fret even if you are not a wine lover, Waiheke is not just all wines and vineyards. It is also home to pristine beaches, precipitous coastal headlands, olive groves, thrilling adventure activities and boutique shopping in its cute little seaside villages.

No guesses, Waiheke island is the perfect and most popular location for a day trip from Auckland.

Ferry to Waiheke Island:

We headed to the ferry terminal in downtown Auckland to catch a ferry which we had already reserved long before our trip began. Most of the ferries are operated by Fullers360 and it takes anywhere between 35-45 minutes from one pier to another.

You can buy tickets at the pier too on the spot. However, it is recommended to book your ferry trip in advance as it can get really crowded during the summer season to secure a ticket onboard.

You can take your car as well along with you on the ferry from the Half Moon Bay wharf, but I wouldn't recommend it as the island has a very convenient hop-on hop-off bus service right from the Matiatia ferry terminal (where you alight) to all the top attractions on the island.

The online version of this map can be found here.

We took this hop-on hop-off bus and our first stop (3rd stop on the bus route) was Oneroa village.

Oneroa Village

Oneroa village is the main township of Waiheke island at about 2kms from the Matiatia ferry terminal. It is a also charming hub of restaurants, cafes, boutique shops, art gallery and even a small little cinema. The Oneroa beach also makes for a stunning view, located just below the Oneroa village. Its golden sands contrast perfectly with the turquoise blue calm waters and is a great spot for swimming or relaxation :)

Oneroa beach as seen from the village.

It was almost 10 am and we were famished as we had had an early start. We entered this small cafe by the name Wai Kitchen in Oneroa village which seemingly had some empty tables in there. It was the day before Christmas and I decided to go heavy on sugar as is the tradition. I gorged on some gooey sweet pancakes and felt guilty for the rest of the day, particulary so because my husband decided to go with the 'extra healthy' blueberry bircher ;)

Wai kitchen is recommended for its scenic views from its outdoor deck.

We wandered around the village taking in its art gallery and boutique shops. The village was quite crowded and had a wonderful festival vibe to it.

Here, we decided on the winery we wanted to visit. As it is, the island has more than 30 vineyards which offer tasting and all of them were pretty well rated. We ruled out the Man O'War Vineyard which sits right in the eastern corner of the island. It would have taken us atleast 1.5 hrs one way to get there leaving no time for other things.

The best bet for us was Tantalus Vineyards which was right in the middle of our route.

Tantalus Vineyards

So as decided, the next stop (#5 in the bus route) in our itinerary for the day was Tantalus vineyards. Its reviews were great and its pictures looked fabulous. We hopped off the bus to see this amazing property laden with grapes and a beautiful European villa with wide open gates inviting us over. The place had a lovely Mediterranean countryside feel to it.

We helped ourselves to this 'ultra delicious' jalapeno poppers at Tantalus

Wine and food are perfectly paired :)

The pictures say it all, don't they! The winery was in an excellent location in the Onetangi valley and offered tasting tours, crafted beers and great food. We easily spent a couple of hours at Tantalus and relaxed over wine, food and lots of pictures.

Cascades Waterfall

Cascade waterfall happened by chance. This was perhaps the first time we had heard about olive oil tasting. We are ardent food aficionados who love trying gourmet offerings. Hence, we very much wanted to do olive oil tasting which was offered on the island by Alpress Olive Groves. The bus stop on the route for olive oil tasting was #8 - Rangihoua Estate, just before Batch winery.

It was already late in the afternoon. Our return ferry was scheduled at 6pm. So wasting no more time, we decided to take the bus to the highest winery on the island, Batch winery. This vineyard too is a destination vineyard with sweeping views of the Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel Peninsula. We wanted to enter the restaurant and relax over some nice coffee and snacks. However, the entry to this vineyard was restricted to only those who had registered for wine tasting.

The views of Auckland downtown and Hauraki Gulf from outside Batch Winery

Obviously, we skipped it (but not before clicking load of pictures) and instead entered the path leading to Cascade waterfalls, just opposite the winery. We had a full 30 minutes before our next bus arrived. Perfect for us to catch a glimpse of this waterfall.

Stick insect on the way to Cascade waterfalls

It was a quick walk to the small waterfalls down the hill and back. The highlight of this trip was the thick surrounding forest full of towering native trees and silver fern. The birds too intermittently chirruped at a distance making the walk a pleasant one. On our way back, we spotted this stick insect jutting out of its camouflage enough for us to spot it. Amazing, right!

(Btw, do you know that silver fern now has become a national emblem of New Zealand.)

Allpress Olive Groves

Just below Batch Winery, sits Rangihoua Estate, the address for Allpress Olive Groves. We paid the 10 NZD per person to start the olive oil tasting. It was a new and unique experience of tasting so many flavours and textures of olive oil from olives all grown on Waiheke - from fruity to peppery flavours, and from rich and buttery textures to being light and fluid. The varieties were mind blowing.

We were given a big unlimited bowl of sourdough pieces to dip in the olive oils and enjoy :)

The lady helped us discern the taste and textures of these oils and also gave us a sample of some yummy herb pesto and Manuka honey from their farms. It was a great tasting session which made us wiser to the distinctions among olive oils. We winded up our visit with a couple of bottles of fruity olive oil and herb pesto to 'literally' relish our memories after we are back home.

Back to the Ferry

It was almost time to head back to the ferry, but not before alighting again at Oneroa village. We wanted to check out a few stores and also the local grocery store. We always love exploring boutique local grocery stores which stock some authentic local fare for its customers. It gives us an idea of what the locals eat and what is popular in that area, so that we too can help ourselves with the goodies on sale:). The different varieties of cheeses, jams and chutneys kept neatly on the counters were quite tempting. There was also a salad bar at the rear end of the store which offered some interesting salad options.

I picked up a salad to satiate my hunger while my hubby picked up an ice cream from a nearby store to satiate his sweet tooth. With that done, we decided to walk back the 2kms from Oneroa village to Matiatia wharf, enjoying the vistas of the Hauraki Gulf on the way to the ferry.

A nice ending to a beautiful day trip.:)

A ferry cruising in the waters with a background of beautiful houses perched high on the headlands of Waiheke Island

Later in the evening, we picked up our car from the parking lot and drove to Cambridge (a town around 1.5 hours away from Auckland); all ready to further explore the surreal beauty of New Zealand.