This section on Waiheke Island has been brought to you thanks to the help and generosity of the following three companies:-

Waiheke Shipping - the best and friendliest way to bring your own car to the island
Barfoot and Thompson - who can help you find the property you want on this beautiful island.
Offshore rentals - the great way to tour the island if you came by foot

WAIHEKE ISLAND

Waiheke Island is just 35 minutes by ferry from Auckland and sits in the Hauraki Gulf. And yet it is so very, very different from the hustle and bustle of New Zealand's biggest city. It is an island of idyllic views, either overlooking vineyards and olive groves or isolated coves and superb beaches. The saying is that the island is "far enough behind to be ahead" but I'm not sure Waiheke wishes to be ahead of anything. It is on a completely different route with no followers and no leaders; it is unique.

As with most aspects of New Zealand history the first settlers came from Polynesia but nobody can be completely certain when. Most experts would put the date around 1000AD and for the next 800 or so years the Maori people had the island to themselves. Various iwi or tribes came and conquered the final ones being the Ngati Paoa iwi.

In 1769, on Saturday November 25, Captain Cook and his ship the Endeavour sailed past Thumb Point on Waiheke on his first journey of exploration. The One World Team will be found on Waiheke Island exactly 237 years later. And the telephone code for Waiheke is 372; is this or is this not significant. More tribal wars followed but in 1818 the first European mission was established at Church Bay. In 1877 it was recorded that 117 Europeans and 70 Maori lived on the island. Today there are about 8,000 people. Electricity came to the island in 1953, 14 years after the ferry service Barroona, now the name of the island's only "home" brewed beer, started calling at Surfdale. It was 1986 when Fullers began the fast ferry service, which now has around 20 sailings a day.

So what has the island to offer the visitor or even the resident. Firstly there is the beauty, peace and tranquillity. There is nearly 100 kilometres of coastline ranging from tiny, secluded bays to the vast sandy beach at Onetangi. The western end of the island is the busiest with the eastern end still largely uninhabited. At its widest the island is about 24 kilometres wide. Between Oneroa in the north and Blackpool on the south coast there is only about a kilometre. If the wind is from the north, head south and vice versa.

The artist community thrives on the island with over 30 artists having studios on the island and there are also two dedicated sculpture parks. There is a theatre and a cinema and of course over 25 different vineyards. The site of acres and acres of grapes growing in long straight lines is recently being complemented by areas of olive groves. The climate allows both to thrive and Waiheke wines are now becoming world famous for their quality.

If you want to check out some of the accommodation, restaurants and other experiences on the island, look in a different a category of our Waiheke region page.

ARTWORKS THEATRE - ONEROA

Waiheke is, as we have often said, a very creative community with artists, sculptors, musicians and of course its fair share of thespians. And where do thespians like to perform; in a theatre and Waiheke has its a own theatre just for them. So, just before Guy Fawkes night, we were wandering through the area where the library is and we saw a poster for an event at the theatre. It was called up-front and was billed as an evening of mixed entertainment to celebrate or indeed inaugurate the re-opening of the theatre foyer. So we popped into the theatre office and spoke to a young lady who said she was the theatre manager and was called Willow. Yes she said she would love us to come along and see the Waiheke community at play. There would be performances and some nibbles and wine. And then a small smile played across her face as she said "Would you like a total immersion experience." "Of course" we said having no idea what she was talking about but, in my case and thinking of the food, hoping that it was a sort of immersion eater experience. With this she took us across to the theatre and then backstage. What I mean she said is that I have a couple of spaces in the opening pageant and perhaps you could fill them. All you need do is dress up; stand still and then, robot like, walk across the audience area and off stage. While saying this she pointed to the clothes we could choose from and I spotted they were all dresses. "Here, Ev", she said "you would look great in this" and she showed her a Queen of Hearts type ball gown. And I also have a yellow one she added looking in my direction. My direction however had taken me, at some speed, toward Onetangi but when I got back, (yellow is just not my colour, darling,), Ev was trying on her dress and a blue wig to add the final touches. With some make-up, said Willow, no-one will recognise you. You can check the photos to see if that is true. Ev is the one in the blue wig. Oh, now I've told you.

Anyway we arrived on the Saturday night early and after the make-up Ev was ready but then she had to be hidden for an hour or so. A bit like standing your chicken after roasting I suppose. Meanwhile the evening began as the VIP's arrived and some colour was added to the evening with a performance by Rouge a local three piece band. French maids, in short black dresses and little aprons came around and offered tasty morsels to the guests and also local wines were flowing like water but tasting like wine. Once everyone was in the foyer and the non-VIP's had arrived, the theatre doors were open and everyone filtered in. The three models, including the blue-wigged Ev, were standing still there and when the spotlight fell on them, they began to move. Actually it would have been sensible to move just before it fell but this is theatre so, who cares.

The rest of the evening included songs, mime and a Helen Clark look alike, or was it the real thing, who began with a loud round of applause from the audience and a statement that there was nothing she enjoyed more than a warm hand on her opening. A little later in the evening, after some belly dancing, Marylyn Monroe appeared, her dress failing like the rest of us, to get wind of this performance. There was a game show, the sole aim of which being to part the contestants from their money in order to raise funds for the theatre. Local businesses had offered prizes, which were bid for, and the highest bid won; no surprise there. At the very end a rather lost soldier, probably from the Peninsula War unless I am mistaken arrived with his drum and proceeded to get the audience to take part and act out various tabloids. I now know why the tabloid press is so-called as there was never any resemblance between the truth and what was in the tabloid.

I understand that the whole evening, raised over NZ$4,000 and this was doubled by the primary sponsor Retravision. All in all a wonderful way of having fun and, with so much money raised, I am sure that the next day there was no weeping willow anywhere near the banks. My suggestion then is for all of you who can, to patronise this little theatre, applaud the thespians (remember what Helen said, no idea why thespians suddenly reminded me of Helen) and who knows, maybe the Queen of Hearts will make another performance some time. Now if it had been green maybe I wouldn't have run so far.