Ok, on my final day in NZ I took the ferry from downtown Auckland to the playground island of Waikeke, about 30 minutes away, for my rendezvous with the scooter.   The Kiwi ferries are very efficient and comfortable and the Waikeke ferry runs every half an hour.   It was another beautiful day- I have been unbelievably lucky with weather since I got here.

Waikeke is a very upscale island with 20 or more vinyards and is renowned in NZ for its vineyard restaurants.  It felt a little bit Malibu or some other Hollywood haunt.  I felt like i was intruding into the land of the rich and famous when I pulled into a winery parking lot loaded with Audis and BMWs (yes, I know I have one- but it was back in the States) and... one little yellow scooter.  And these vineyard settings are truly spectacular- the best I have ever seen-

But as I set off my scooter,  I soon discovered the obvious- my plan to scoot and wine taste had a small flaw- what might be called light headedness.  Notwithstanding my superb scooter skills- I made sure to follow Sams advice and avoid all ditches,  I had to spit out all of the wine- not making me a favorite of the other tasters or the vineyard- but- combined with the cost (each place charged)- it seemed to reduce the appeal of the whole wine experience.  So, after the first vineyard, I got back on the scooter and went roaring the hell out of there (well, what counted for roaring on a scooter) and just visited the wineries for lunch and dinner.  In between, I joined the locals swimming in the harbor, though not all of the way back to Auckland (that was the ferrys job) and touring on the scooter.  Not biking turned out to be wise as the island was quite hilly and bigger than I thought.

But in my touring, I did come across this unusual warning next to a driveway-

 As you can perhaps see, from the below, not a lot of room for this sport in the guys 100 ft backyard

So I ended up for dinner at one of the vineyards with spectacular view of the rolling hills, harbor and Auckland city (this was the restaurant for George and Melissa, I thought)-

But outside many of the well heeled patrons seemed to be sitting on these bean bags on the lawn and engaging in, well, what could only be described as somewhat armorous affairs.  But for me, it more or less added to the view....

And then I took the ferry back... (one more wrap up post to come...)