Category Archives: Daily Lime

Waiheke Island Wine Tour

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We visit Waiheke Island with our friends the Barkers (Matt, Diana, and their family).  We take a short 45-minute ferry ride from Auckland to the idyllic Waiheke island which is renowned for its vineyards nestled in beautiful settings.  It is often called “The Island of Wine.”

There are over 130-hectares (or 321 acres) of grapes and new vineyards are being planted every year.  The local winegrowers have mastered the unique maritime climate and ancient soil structures to produce red and white wines.  The first vineyard was planted in 1978, a relatively young vineyard.  Since its birth, Waiheke has made a name for its structured Chardonnay, fruity Merlot, elegant Bordeaux-style blends, and expressive Syrah – all noted as outstanding in their class.

With the Barkers we decide to visit three vineyards in our short 6-hour Waiheke Island Wine tour.  Matt and I arrived on an earlier ferry and managed to squeeze in a short hike.  Our plan is to drive to Man O’War Vineyard (purple arrow), then head back and stop at Cable Bay Vineyard (blue arrow) and our final stop is Mudbrick Vineyard (between blue and red).  The ferry dock is where the red arrow is pointing.

We start off at the furthest vineyard called Man O’War Vineyard.

Man O’War Vineyard

This was my favorite vineyard by far.  A more casual atmosphere right on the beach with loads of sitting areas, a DJ, first class wines (and beer), and food.  Man O’War is located on the far eastern side of Waiheke Island making it the most difficult to get to, but it is so worth the drive.  

This vineyard planted vines on numerous small individual sites across the volcanic hilltop and clay hillsides on their 4500-acre farm.  The wine was my favorite as was the tasty “garage beer” for the “Matts”

Cable Bay Vineyard

Guests enjoy breathtaking sea views while sipping on award winning wines from Cable Bay Vineyard.  But, unfortunately, we only had an hour to explore here so one glass of rose.  The grounds are beautiful and they grow their own herbs, vegetables, and edible flowers for their restaurants and bars. 

Mudbrick Vineyard

Located right next door to Cable Bay Vineyard on Waiheke island is Mudbrick Vineyard. It is world-renowned for it superb restaurants, award-winning wines and spectacular sea views.  They claim to offer the perfect Waiheke experience with their beautiful accomodations, tours, and wine tastings.  NY Times said “Mudbrick is a must see when visiting Auckland.”  Which is kind of funny to me as Mudbrick is on Waiheke island a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland.

Mudbrick offered a lovely wine tasting!  Shockingly, I really enjoyed the sauvignon blanc over the rose.

A beautiful shot of Auckland from the Sky Tower and from the Ferry on the way to Waiheke Island.  While on the ferry we swung by the Navy station which has the largest of NZ fleets of boats.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred toward the end of December 2023.  In our last blog we replace our shattered Moonlight Hatch Frames.

Booted or Booty: NZ Visas

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As an American, you can enter New Zealand with an NZeTA which will give you a 3-month visa (if you enter by airplane, cruise ship, or private yacht.)   If you plan to stay longer than 3-months, which most cruisers do, you have to then apply for a tourist visa which will give you an additional 6 month stay. Most countries will allow you to extend your visas, especially if you are spending money in their country.

However, NZ allows Americans to either stay 9 months in an 18 month period or 12 months in a 24 month period (see here).  Here is where we run into a problem and face possible expulsion from this amazing country.

Last season we arrived in early November and left in early July.  Matt never left NZ while I flew back and forth to the states several times (as my dad was very ill).  By the time we left, Matt had spent just over 8 months and I had spent about 6 months in NZ.  Well shoot.  Even if we got approval for the 12 months in a 24 month period visa that is not enough time for us.  It would have us leaving in February which is the peak of cyclone season.  So, we need to do something to fix our visas.

Booted or Booty?

Seems so strange to me that NZ would kick us out considering how much money we spent last season and this season on repairs and upgrades.  But thems the rules.  So, we had to decide…do we return and schedule a lot of work costing a lot of money with the hopes that we won’t get booted?

We decided to take the risk.  Here is what we had to do to get an extended visa.  It is a long process that wasn’t cheap.

Visit the NZ Immigration website.  You complete a very long online application, upload about a dozen documents, pay money, get a complete physical and medical check, pay more money, and wait.

Application Process

Reach out to us if you are interested in learning how to properly complete this application or hire an immigration agent to assist you.

The application inquires about standard information on you, your boat, and your spouse. They ask about your health, financial status, criminal background, and more.  Nothing is sacred.

It requires proof and uploads of financial status (past 3 months), proof of the value of the boat (insurance documents work), proof of marriage (if applicable and applying as a married couple), scans of passport bio page, boat registration, temporary import entry (TIE), and completion of the INZ 1224 form.

In addition you have to upload a photo of yourself in front of a non-white, solid color background, not smiling, with hair behind your ears, solid color shirt, and a very specific pixel size.  It was such a pain to get this just right.  The system rejected a dozen of our photos!

Medical

NZ is a socialized medicine country which means they don’t want their tourists to be a burden on their society. Our visas required us to get a complete physical.  We went to Rust Avenue Medical as they were able to get us in quicker than White Cross in Whangarei.  Even though it was quicker, it was still a 2-week wait.  This was rather a long process and took us about 2.5 hours and cost $300USD per person.  They did a urine test, checked our vitals, asked us a dozen questions, asked us to do basic physical activities (bend over, touch toes, etc…), eye exam, listened to our heart & lungs.

From there, we walked two buildings down the road to the pathology lab and had a full blood test run (including for Hepatitis B & C, HIV, Syphilis, HvA1C, and full blood count).  This took about 45 minutes, no appointment needed, and cost $250USD per person.

Next we went to TRG Imaging which is next to White Cross in Whangarei.  We had to get chest x-rays.  We walked in without an appointment and were done within 15 minutes, the cost $250USD each.

The medical facilities all uploaded the results to the immigration website.  Within 24 hours we were notified that immigration had all of our results.  Now that is fast!

The Waiting Game: Visas 

It is a bit nerve racking as you wait for your visa approval.  Supposedly, if your application is submitted and is in process you don’t have to worry, even if your NZeTA expires.  But that is a big “supposedly”

The other interesting thing is that our NZeTA visas are good for 2 years.  So, our NZeTA is valid until 29 September 2024.  Which means technically you can enter, leave and re-enter for another 3-months as long as this NZeTA is valid.  But what I don’t know is how this works when your standard tourist visa expires.  Surely their system shows that we have both an NZeTA and a tourist visa and we try to enter on the NZeTA with an expired Tourist Visa they will stop us?  So many questions….

We finally had a reply three weeks after our medical records were submitted to immigration.  The email was non-descript and short.  It did not have any hints as to whether we will be denied and booted from NZ or accepted to stay.  I opened the attachment with such trepidation and anxiety!  

Kicked Out ?

We were ACCEPTED!  Thank God!  Not only that, but we were given a multiple entry (so I can fly back to the States).  Usually this type of visa is a one entry visa meaning you only can enter once and being that we were already here we could not leave and come back during this visa period.  So, lucky for us we got multiple entry so I can fly back to the states and return to my boat.

We feel so blessed to have been approved and look forward to exploring the NE shores of NZ!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog took place in November.  Several beastly boat projects get completed in the last blog post.

Kiwi Fun

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It is difficult to live and work on the boat while she is on the hard in the boat yard.  We wake up and start working right away (0700) and then work until the sun goes down (2000).  We work on the weekends on projects that don’t get in the way of the contractors.  Work work work.  So, we periodically have to blow off some steam with a little Kiwi fun.

The Seaside Sirens

There was a flyer on the bulletin board outside the boat yard office that caught my eye. It was an advertisement for a one night only show of the Seaside Sirens.  Intrigued I googled it and to my surrpise it was a cabaret.  Oh ya, sign me up for this type of Kiwi fun!  I called a few friends and dragged them along with us.

We stopped by the Quay for a cocktail prior to the show.  Daniela, Mirko (on Yum Yum) and Kara joined Matt and I.  Check out my pretty drink (lower left) called the Autumn Sun.

The Seaside Sirens are mer people and the two sailors have been caught under their spell to do their bidding.  The live band called “The Otherlies” were land based but worked with the mer people in exchange for favors.

And then the show began!  It is not a strip show per se, but they do strip down to pasties.  They had performers dancing, singing, performing on a pole, silks, large ring, and with a hula hoop.

It was serious fun with great laughs and loads of entertainment.  The performers were lovely and put on a great show!

It ended at 8:30pm and we were all starving.  We stopped by several eateries which were open but their kitchens were closed.  Finally we found Loco, a Mexican place that fed us and wrapped up our night.  Kiwi’s know how to put on a good show but they need their restaurants to stay open past 8:30pm!

Welcome Cruiser Party

Whangarei throws an amazing party each year to welcome the new cruisers to Whangarei, NZ!  This year I had the pleasure of assisting (albeit very little) Kara from Town Basin Marina.  The party was held at Aqua Restaurant located at the Hundertwasser Museum.  It was great fun seeing old and new cruiser friends.  Upper left is Kara and I and upper right are two of the amazing performers.

The most spectacular Maori group, Hatea Kapa Haka Group  performed and they did not disappoint!  They take my breath away, brought me to tears with a Maori version of Ava Maria and showcased their local traditions and songs.  It was spectacular.

Christmas Tree Farm

It was nearing Christmas and our friend Kara from Town Basin Marina asked us to come along to get her Christmas tree.  We went to an actual Christmas Tree farm called “Crane Road Christmas Trees.”   The family had a beautiful ranch style home overlooking their gorgeous farm!

Oh how I wish I could have brought home a tree to the boat!  But even though they were “small” in American standards (between 4-6′) they were way too big for our boat.  But they smelled devine and they keep all of their trees in buckets full of water.  

Kara found a beautiful, round tree that we gently stuffed into her car and brought to her house.  She did a fabulous job decorating!

After our tree farm we went to Parua Tavern for a tasty lunch!  Check out this super fun mailbox.

Me having a little fun with a NZ phone booth in Whangarei.  I don’t know how to actually make a call from this phone.

I purchased a wooden vase in Panama for cheap and have been using it on the boat on the rare occasions I get flowers.  It has cracked in several places so I commissioned a new vase out of Rewarewa wood (native NZ tree) and it came out beautiful (the darker vase).

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This show was 22 November.  Our last blog post documented our rudder rebuild, did you read it?