Natural Masterpiece

Auckland offers sparkling city life and luscious island wine country all in one amazing escape.

- Jeremy Tredinnick

The ferry churns the water into a roiling mass of white foam as we pull away from the Downtown Ferry Terminal and the Auckland skyline diminishes behind us. Small yachts bob around us on the deep-blue water as we course south, past picturesque headlands and beaches, with verdant Rangitoto Island – Auckland’s youngest volcano – peaking gently on our left.

After 40 minutes we reach our destination, Waiheke Island, renowned for its laid-back, alternative lifestyle – Kiwis everywhere are laid back so you can imagine how easygoing the pace of life is here – as well as its fine wine dining scene and gloriously accessible vineyards. Aucklanders love to pop over to the island for a wine tasting followed by some seriously good food cooked in vineyard restaurants with views stretching away down vine rows to sparkling bays.

Our ferry docks in beautiful Matiatia Bay at the western end of the island, which stretches a dozen miles west to east, but whose coastline is over 80 miles long thanks to a host of inlets. I’m due to meet up with a guide at one of the nearest vineyards, but I’ve arrived early so I can walk a section of the southern coastal path. The weather is kind, and as I set out, first passing kayaks pulled up on the beach, then climbing through indigenous forest onto the headland, the sun breaks through cotton wool clouds, shafts of light illuminating the city way off on the horizon across a cerulean sea.

It’s a exhilarating hike, undulating around the coastline, dropping from ridges to black-sand beaches and passing idyllic homesteads fronted by verandas with panoramic views to die for. All the way I’m thrilled by the exotic nature of Waiheke’s flora, from tussock grass so spongy you sink into it like the softest mattress, to intricate hanging seed pods and tree-sized ferns.