Having been here only two days, we have already fallen in love with New Zealand. 
On Tuesday we thoroughly enjoyed a day trip to Waiheke Island, near Auckland. What once was the artistic and mellow ‘Haight-Ashbury’ of New Zealand is now a upscale place with $3M homes and over 30 wineries. There is a vibrant spirit that continues here, however. Over 1,600 people commute daily on the ferry to work in Auckland.
We took a 45 minute ferry ride to the island and enjoyed a wine tasting tour that provided the opportunity to taste wines at three of the wineries. It was a lovely day, made even more special by the beauty of the island, the warmth and good heartedness of the people that we met and — of course — the fabulous wines!
Auckland is about the same latitude as the San Francisco area on the other side of the equator, similar to Buenos Aries. We’ve changed from winter to summer in one airplane flight, but we are only three hours earlier than California, so there’s no jet lag to manage.
The people here are wonderful. Every citizen gets full health coverage, and a retirement pension based only partly on how much you put in to it. Drivers are much more courteous than Bay Area drivers. Many we talk to want to know how on earth did Trump get elected, and their comments about his actions are usually rather negative. Our AirBnb experience has been wonderful, and our hosts’ comments about politics quickly fades, and we really enjoyed spending time with our hosts and talking about life, family, faith, and this beautiful country we are visiting.
