Half a million international visitors are expected to arrive into New Zealand in the next two months and Waiheke’s hot spots are packed with visitors from different parts of the world enticed here by the natural beauty of the island and our many other tourist attractions.
The Green family from South Africa has been in New Zealand for three weeks and Angus Green says they’re on Waiheke to visit his son that came to live in the country several years ago.
“So far, I absolutely love it,” says Angus.
“The beer is cold, which is perfect!”
The Greens’ first stop was Queenstown. Angus says “It’s like visiting almost two different countries.”
Mr Green praised his son’s country of residence, and he says they’re planning to stay for another week.
“Everything works, everything is clean, and people are great,” says Angus.
“It’s expensive because of the exchange, but I mean, that’s not Waiheke’s fault.”
Another aspect that gets a lot of attention from visitors is the island’s village-type atmosphere.
“People are pretty chilled and it is easy to get around because you can go walking everywhere,” says Wellingtonian newlywed Don.
Don and Cara were in Auckland and wanted to go somewhere nice to spend a small honeymoon.
Cara says it was easy to find their Airbnb accommodation, but that might be due to the fact that she booked it six months ago, she says.
When it comes to prices, Don says that “everything’s expensive in New Zealand.”
“We’ve been to really nice places, and they were quite expensive for what they were,” says Cara.
“But the day after we went to other places and they seemed more reasonable,” she says.”
Although the couple praised the island’s shops’ proximity to each other, they said they needed to take a couple of taxis to move around. Next time they’ll consider renting a car since bringing their vehicle on the ferry wasn’t worth it, says Don. • Olivia.Walker
