Kiwi is not just a fruit...

...it's also a bird!

Yes, a bit of a boondoggle, but the stress involved justified the trip... I'll spare you the boredom of explaining the legitimate work reason for being there. Let it suffice to say that in each geography, annually, we take the "cream of the crop" of our smaller customers out to an exotic location to celebrate their accomplishments, and train them on our upcoming products. It is in a nutshell, intended to be a boondoggle.

Having stressed for the past month on customer meetings and arrangements, only to have them cancelled the week before the event, I was well past the point of hair-pulling, and well on my way to walking off a precipice (figuratively speaking). It was high time for a break, and what better place than the Land Down Under? Well, not Australia, but New Zealand.


We were in Auckland for 6 days. One day of wandering around and setup. One day of taking the customers out for fun around town. Another 3.5 days of conference. And last, but not least, one last day for fun on my own.

As it turns out, Auckland is surrounded by 48 volvanoes, many of which are still active. New Zealand apparently has up to 200 earthquakes a year, and yet we in the northern hemisphere never hear about them. They had a magnitude 6.7 earthquake about 2 months ago, which passed without any casualties... Perhaps the size of their population has something to do with it. There are 4 million Kiwis in the world, many of which live outside of New Zealand. In contrast, there are 50 million sheep in the country. As my manager so wisely commented, "New Zealand, where the men are never bored, and the sheep are nervous".

Most everyone left on Friday evening and Saturday day. I had arranged my departure for Sunday morning, so that I would have a day to wander around on my own. A few people were meeting up with friends, some were finding tickets to see a rugby game, others were taking a guided tour of some nearby caves... I, on the other hand, had had my heart set on reconnecting my ties with the Great Outdoors. Seeing that no one else had similar intentions, I set out on my own.

First thing in the morning, with maps in hand, I ran down to the ferry dock to purchase tickets to Waiheke Island, which is mostly known for being a wine growing region. Upon landing on the island, I rented myself a bike, and set out for what turned out to be a very, very, VERY hilly ride... I find myself, time and time again, wishing that someone would come up with a handy method of conveying altitude on the average roadmap! That being said, I trudged along, knowing that there would be glorious views from the top of every hill. It didn't take long for the rain to set in, paving the way for a very soggy day... Despite the rain, the broken bike lock, the bike shop owner that was unreachable for ~2 hours, the hills, and empty stomach, I finally made if to Te Motu, a winery/restaurant which would serve me food, and (hopefully) good wine. Realizing that drinking and biking was likely dumber than drinking and driving, I stayed a bit longer, drank a bit more water, and stayed a bit lower on the volume of alcohol intake... The vineyards were beautiful, and the scenery breathtaking! I can only imagine what the Marlborough region must look like, with the much more highly developed wine industry than Waiheke Island...

Taking Te Motu as the turnaround point, I located some of the more well-known wineries on my map, and set out to find them. I tasted 4 more wines at Goldwater Estate, some of which were decent, and would have been purchased if not for China's limit to two 750mL bottles of alcohol. *sigh* On my way to Mudbrick, a few "tramping paths" were seen leading up into the hills. So I parked the bike, and started hiking (or tramping). Again, the views justified everything, although my pictures can't do it justice... All in all, a cold, wet ride, but great fun nonetheless! Definitely a recommendable trip during NZ's summer!