The 5th May marked our 5 year anniversary, and although that ring never made an appearance, it did give us time to think about just what we have achieved in the 5 years.
When we were just friends and before I even realised we were flirting, Shannon popped by my house one day and mentioned he would like a girlfriend but he planned on going travelling so couldn’t have a relationship. It got me thinking that maybe it was time for me to move on again and as I would love to be his girlfriend, I could go travelling with him. As soon as we got together we started planning to go travelling, but first a weeks holiday to Malta was booked. We left Guernsey 13 months later, and embarked on our first travelling adventure- going to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore before living and working in Australia for 1 year.
Back home we rented an apartment and got jobs- thinking the bug had gone, but under 2 years later we set off again, and now here we are, with the world at our feet.
To celebrate our 5 year anniversary we decided to take a few days off work, and on 5/5/15 we headed to Waiheke.
Waiheke (pronounced Y-heecky) is the second largest island in the Hauraki Gulf at 36 square miles with a population of 8,600 (Guernsey is 30.1 square miles with a population of 65,000), and is just 40 minutes ferry ride from downtown Auckland.
Waiheke is rather famous for its boutique vineyards so we thought about doing a wine tour but prices were around the $135 each mark, and we done our research and found that because of the hotter climate in the North Island than the South Island, most of the wines produced were red wine, which is not our favourite. So we decided not to do a wine tour here and save for when we go to Marlborough later.
Instead we bought a package deal with Fullers, the ferry company, which cost us $55 each and included the return ferry, a bus tour around the island and free public busses all day.
Our guided tour consisted of visiting Onetangi beach, getting up close to some local hens and ducks, visiting the town of Oneroa which was more a row of wooden shed like shops, most of the houses in fact were shanty wooden structures, and some known as ‘Bachs’ (pronounced batches), and driving around the coast.
After the guided tour we started walking to one of the wineries, before our bus driver came round the route again on another tour and we jumped back on- although we were enjoying gazing at the rolling fields covered in vines.
We arrived at ‘Mudbrick’ vineyard for our wine tasting, I had heard Mudbrick was a good one to visit, and then the night before we went I flicked through the numerous Auckland tourist brochures I have and found two free wine tasting vouchers for the value of $10 each! So we had a seat whilst the girl poured out 2 white wines, a rose, and 2 reds- which actually went down well. It was a really good experience and the girl left us alone whilst we had our tasting so we didn’t feel pressured to sniff and swish the wine in our mouths to look professional.
Then we headed outside in the gardens for lunch. We had views of the sprawling vineyards and topiary bushes, it was such a lovely setting- especially as we could see through the clearing in trees- Auckland city in a grey haze in the distance, it was all very magical. We munched through bread and dips and an ever so tasty cheeseboard.
Afterwards we walked back to the town looked in some gift shops before jumping on the local bus back to the ferry terminal.
We had a lovely time in Waiheke and glad we got out the city for a day (even if we could still see it in the distance). Wonder where we will be to celebrate our 6th anniversary and maybe that ring will make an appearance as at 27 I feel silly calling Shannon my ‘boyfriend’, need to be more grown up.
I knew I wouldn’t be getting a ring however as we had just purchased a smart watch by ‘Fitbit’ which tracks your heart rate, calories, steps, distance and even sleep patterns, but thankfully our parents were on hand to celebrate with us- Shannon’s parents ever so kindly and thoughtfully sent us a chocolate cheesecake with an anniversary message and my parents gave us money which we spent on our lunch.
