Last Saturday, my first full day on the island, was a perfect day. I spent it with a Canadian woman I met at the IEP (International Exchange Program) orientation last Wednesday. Christina is from Montreal and she's very nice and fun and will most likely work in restaurants and play the ukalayley in Wellington (probably not at the same time, although that would be very cool.) We ran into each other at the hostel and decided to spend the day together.
We set off from the hostel bright and early to check out the Saturday market at Ostend. We bought some lovely fresh figs, kiwifruit, and squirted feijoa into our mouths. The market was cute but quite small so we finished quickly. Since we had so much time we decided to walk to the olive oil tasting place instead of bus-ing it. The hills and the lack of sidewalks proved to be a challenge and in all the commotion we missed the olive oil tasting place. Not wanting to go back down and then back up the last huge upward stretch of the hill, we decided to settle in at Ridgeview Vineyard for a bit of wine tasting. Christina had met Daniel, their winemaker, the day before at Waiheke's Wine Centre. I'm really glad they met and that we made the effort to get to this vineyard because the views were breathtaking. Not only was it gorgeous there but Daniel was awesome. He spent an hour with us and was super generous with tips on which winemakers/vineyards I should contact on the island and which regions of NZ I should hit not only according to seasons for winemaking but also to make the most of the snowboarding season ;-) He also walked us through some basics on wine tasting. Some of which I'd heard before but this one-on-one interaction with him was unlike any that I could have ever experienced in Napa/Sonoma's popular vineyards. Daniel even drew this tongue to indicate which areas of the tongue recognizes which taste characteristics (the middle bit says "no" upside down and stands for no man's land or the area where you don't taste different flavors.) I still have a lot to learn but this little session with Daniel was a great first experience of the kiwi friendliness I've heard so much about and the type of education I'm hoping to have during my year here.
Next we set out for Onetangi Beach. Daniel sent us off with instructions to walk through the air field, right at the air sock, and then a series of right turns that should have taken us about 45 minutes. Well, we took a wrong turn and ended up in the Waiheke Reserve and it ended up taking us much, much, much longer than 45 minutes and my flip flops (kiwis call them jandals) were not the best shoes for this unexpected hike. Exhausted and starving we enjoyed a Monteith's beer and lunch out on beachside cafe patio. After we refueled we bought some groceries to bring back to the hostel and got directions from a man outside the shop before heading for the bus stop. We sat down to wait for the hourly bus and before we could even think about figuring out when the next one would arrive, the man from outside the shop pulled up and offered us a ride! Wow! Two friendly kiwis in one day?! I think I'm going to like here ;-)
