Ostend

We signed up for a New Year's Eve festival during the planning stages of the trip, so we found ourselves on a ferry to Waiheke Island with NZ's rowdiest 20 something crowds on Saturday afternoon. The liquor was flowing on the boat ride in, and we were concerned about our capability to "hang." Waiheke is an island in Auckland's harbor that houses several wineries and pretty beaches. The festival was on one of the vineyards, so all the party goers were bussed there from the ferry terminal.

The festival setting was pretty nice, surrounded by vineyards and rolling hills. There were also some nice food options - we went with a fresh pizza. The music unfortunately left much to be desired. The DJs weren't quite up to our standards, but I suppose it's tough to ask top talent to fly around the globe for relatively small crowds. I don't think we'll be seeing "Calvo" headlining at major US clubs any time soon.

The wine, local from the vineyard, was flowing. To be cost effective, we would buy an entire bottle to split between us. When all was said and done, after 6 hours, we were almost 3 bottles down. Fortunately we drank plenty of water. There were fireworks and a champagne toast when midnight rolled around, over 20 hours before friends and family back in the US celebrated the new year.

The ride back was a bit chaotic. People were asked to choose from 3 departure times (naturally we chose the earliest). Unfortunately many others had overestimated their ability to "hang" so our ferry was way overcrowded with those scheduled on later trips. But alas, we made it back to our hotel just after 2 for our last night in New Zealand.Read more