Our bnb host had recommended driving out to the east coast to Man O War winery, so I had made a reservation for lunch. Part of the attraction is the drive there.
I was getting more accustomed to the larger vehicle. We were also glad to have the SUV as most of the drive was over a rougher gravel road. The road curved its way through hilly farmland and the occasional vineyard. It was quite beautiful. Saw some sheep - I had been wondering if we had seen our last sheep back in Te Kuiti.
We arrived at the winery just before noon. It’s an iconic NZ coastal setting - there were families on the beach having picnics, other kids playing pétanque on the lawn in front of the winery.
Lucky we had reservations, as it’s a pretty small vineyard. Our table (half a wine barrel) had a little name tag, Reserved for Eric.
We hoped to try the Te Matuku Bay oysters but they were out; so instead had a charcuterie platter and some other nibbles.
A group of friends were gathering, looking like they were here for a wedding. Later, another person asked us excitedly if one of them was Dan Carter? We laughed and said we were the wrong people to ask. Then we asked them who Dan Carter was. (Apparently he’s a famous rugby player who played for the All Blacks).
Anyways we quite enjoyed sipping our drinks and enjoying the view of the bay.
We drove back along the southeast, passing by some more vineyards and a distillery. We hardly passed any cars at all - the main ferry access to Waiheke is on the west end of the island. It’s only about an hour to drive across, but most folks tend to stay on the west end around Oneroa where most of the restaurants and galleries are.
Later we went for dinner at Te Motu Vineyard. It was in a nice setting overlooking the vineyards. We had thought about walking there (it’s about 25 minutes) but ended up taking a taxi cause there’s no sidewalk. Dinner was good.
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