Gourmet road trips: Pizza, pies and the best of cuisine on Waiheke Is

By THERESA GARNER

You could happily start your Waiheke Island gastronomic excursion with a pie and a Coke, or even a chickpea salad and chardonnay on the Fullers ferry. It may be best to wait, however, for the gourmet delights across the water.

With its location just half an hour's boat ride from Auckland, the island offers an experience hard to match.

But for many, Waiheke's beauty is a backdrop for the main attraction - wine touring.

Waiheke is acclaimed for its cabernet and merlot blends. Some of the country's best reds come from the island, and the first to recognise the combination of Waiheke's soils, Goldwater Estate and Stonyridge Vineyard, command reverential visitation rights.

Every day this summer, the ferries will be laden with eager visitors dressed in anything from bikinis to "mother of the bride", and whether they plan to down some coldies on the beach or sip chardonnay at a wedding feast, imbibing is on most people's minds.

If you plan to get a bus off the Fullers ferry, don't dawdle on the wharf or you will find yourself watching the bus disappear without you and face a hot hike up to the village of Oneroa.

This pretty village is most people's first stop, and many linger there for the day, lunching at one of the restaurants, or shopping up large at the Family Barrow store for gourmet goodies to take down to the beach. Nearby Greenhill Wines offers Waiheke wines to complete the picnic.

But if a vineyard lunch or dinner is your aim, a little more planning is required. It is easy enough to find a vineyard out of the 30-odd that dot the island to suit your budget.

Don't be put off by esoteric marketing. For instance, at Passage Rock Vineyard at Te Matuku Bay at the eastern end of the island, "angels dressed in mist kiss the land". This may be so, but it is still a locals' favourite with picnic tables on the grass, offering wood-fired pizzas for under $20 in its heavenly setting.

Even the more formal and pricey restaurants - Mudbrick and Te Whau are renowned for their superb dining experiences - retain a relaxed ambience.

The Waiheke Island of Wine map is a must-have for anyone doing a wine tour. It pinpoints 24 wineries which can be visited by car, scooter or bicycle, although it is important to check whether the wineries offer tastings, and if there is a charge, before bowling into the cellar.

The main thing to consider is transport. Don't rely on buses which cross the island on specified routes only to meet the ferries.

Rental cars and bicycles are available on the wharf and there are two taxi companies. Tour buses and cars should be booked in advance.

A word of advice to women: high heels are not your friend. Some of Waiheke's vineyards, while boasting million-dollar architecture and landscaping, have gravel driveways that would drive a goat to distraction. And bare feet is best for the swingball and petanque offered by some wineries.

Grapes are not the only industry. There are around 18,000 olive trees on the island, and visitors can go to Waiheke Wild in Ostend to see how the oil is made in the only modern day stonemill in Australasia. The Rangihou Olive Company in Rocky Bay offers tastings.

There are plenty of Ponsonby-style cafes on Waiheke but if deciding between salmon or pancetta on your eggs benedict gets tiresome, there are some delightful alternatives further down the food chain.

The beachside village of Onetangi no longer has a pub (it has been turned into a bar/restaurant called Zora) but it still has its greasy spoon-style Beach Store Cafe.

You can't beat their $5 bacon and eggs served in a buttered roll, with a mug of tea, eaten at a picnic table. You'll have to brush the sand off the table yourself and shoo away the dive bomber seagulls.

Or you could follow the lead of Waiheke's hungry tradesmen and contractors, whose best pick is "Eva's breakfast".

The breakfast might be cheap but the view is a million dollars.

For another authentic taste of Waiheke, the market at the Ostend Hall and Reserve on Saturday morning has up to 100 stalls, many of them selling island-made gourmet delights such as fancy breads, chutneys, cheeses, james, pickles and preserves, which you can taste before you buy. Many of the jars sold here are wrapped in ribbons and sold for a much higher price in the island's gift shops, so take some home.

The tamarind chutney is a revelation.

Try it on a slice of Helios loaf, baked by Matthias Kroeger who mills his own organic wheat and kneads the bread by hand, flavouring it with herbs and spices.

More information

Getting there: Fullers or Subritzky.

Waiheke Visitor Information Office, 2 Korora Rd, Oneroa. Phone: (09) 372-1234. E-mail: info@waihekenz.co.nz

Waiheke Island Online

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