New Year's Eve: a Winery, Tea, and Skytower Fireworks

New Year's Eve we intended to drive back down to Auckland to pick up more Americans (friends of my sister's), but Lorena and I had spent a bunch of time in Auckland already so we were in no hurry to get there.  We slept in as much as you can when sleeping on the ground, and found a cute cafe for breakfast.  Huevos rancheros were on the menu - we found this entry particularly amusing.

We also saw crumpets on the menu.  Lorena and I both thought crumpets were an English Tea myth since neither of us remembered ever seeing crumpets after spending time in London.  Apparently they do exist and they're yummy!  My eggs benedict came on crumpets and Lorena just ordered tea and crumpets.  We felt as though we should be in Jane Austen novel or something...

Lorena with her tea and crumpets

Our waitress was from Canada.  We noticed the lack of accent and chatted with her for a minute.  She and her husband and kids sailed down from Canada.  Holy adventure, batman!
 
On our way south, we stopped in Matakana to visit some wineries.  We ended up at Hyperion, the oldest winery in Matakana.  We entered the wine tasting hut (it was just a tiny room with a staircase down to the cellar - sadly, we didn't get to visit that) and met the older woman who did the tastings.  She was very nice, but she talked really quickly and quietly so Lorena and I did a fair amount of smiling and nodding.  My favorite was a chardonnay (surprisingly) that was pretty sweet.  Weird for a chard, but I bought a bottle cuz it was yum!

We then stopped at the tea room just down the road, but it was closed for the holiday :( so we pulled out the Lonely Planet and looked for another tea room.  There is one in Puhoi, just north of Auckland, so we got back on the road with a new mission.

Lorena and me and the line of Hyperion wines

A little way down the road to Auckland, we got completely sidetracked by pink sheep.  Yes, pink.

Sheep World has a flock of pink sheep that draw in tourists, like us.  Honestly, could you really keep driving?  So we went into the gift shop and I found sheep shaped stamps.  Amazing. 

Back on the road, we followed signs to Puhoi and found the cutest little tea house ever.  We walked in and this older gentleman welcomed us to the oldest tea house in New Zealand.  He then asked if we wanted to have a true Devonshire tea with scones and cream.  We nodded vigorously so he disappeared to make it and we sat down under an umbrella in the garden.  He brought out a tray of tea and scones.  It was the cutest thing ever and the day was perfect for it!  We were the only ones in this lovely secluded garden in this quiet tiny town tucked into the woods.  We began drinking our tea and eating our (amazing!) scones, and the man started playing his guitar in the house and suddenly we were surrounded by mellow music that made the scene quite perfect.  It was an amazing afternoon.
We left the tea house and drove back into Auckland where we met up with Laura, Todd, Graham and Vanessa and the newest Americans, Katie, Jim and Mijin.  After a picnic pasta dinner and pan-fried strawberries over ice cream for dessert, we checked into our hostel and met up with David - our friend from our last stay in Auckland!
We went to the Skytower where they had dancers and a drum band playing outside.  The drum band reminded me a lot of the Venice Beach drum circle - great beats!  However we went inside the Skytower to one of the clubs.  Despite the sign saying that there was a strict formal dress code, they let us all in in jeans and flip flops.  I love low standards!  We danced until the music turned techno and then we tried a different club in the atrium area.  A couple of the songs the cover band was playing were perfectly acceptable for dancing hustle, so Lorena led :)

Outside again, we danced to the drum band and then tried to find a good spot to watch the fireworks.  They were set off from the top of the Skytower, so we figured we'd be able to see them pretty well from the base.  Aside from the crink in our necks, it wasn't a bad idea!  Altogether a very memorable New Years :)