Waiheke Islands

The funny thing is that we actually trusted the weather forecast to decide on an island trip for sunshine and beaches. No point predicting the weather in New Zealand, just play the lottery, better chances…

I used to think England had unpredictable weather, but here, the clouds seem to travel at twice the speed, and every 10 minutes, the weather changes so dramatically it feels like someone’s flipping a switch. Officially, they claim New Zealand enjoys 280 days of sunshine per year—though I suspect it’s more like 280 times a day. It’s supposed to be summer, yet in the 7 days we’ve been here, it has rained every single day. Sometimes just for a few minutes, sometimes for hours. I’m not too upset about it, but I sincerely hope that whoever makes those sunshine statistics gets rain on every holiday they ever take… for life.

Apart from the ever-changing weather, the island is beautiful. It’s a nice break from tourists and the city life of Auckland. We’re treating this as a “holiday within a holiday.” Normally, we’re running around like maniacs, trying to squeeze everything a city has to offer in a few hours, but this time we’re doing nothing for four days. We’ve turned into those chill backpackers who lounge around hostels doing nothing (ask a backpacker who’s been in the city for months where to visit, and they’ll have no idea—they never leave the hostel’s backyard).

The hostel we are staying is near a fantastic beach, and whenever the sky clears for a moment, we sprint outside to take a picture—and if we’re really lucky, we’ll squeeze in a quick swim before rushing back as the rain inevitably returns.

On Christmas Eve, we’re flying to Australia to see Jen and Craig and spend Christmas and New Year with them.

Fun fact: We’re flying to Australia on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with Jen and Craig. I saw in the news that Australia has issued an extreme heat warning for the holidays. Fools… just wait until we show up.