Ziplines, Wineries, and the Consequences of My Own Actions

Another early morning, up at six so we could grab brekkie in the hotel restaurant when it opened and then onto the ferry at half seven. And I thought I might get a chance to sleep in whilst on holiday.

We had to catch such an early ferry to Waiheke Island so we could meet the EcoZip Adventures van at the ferry since the buses weren’t running yet. We met our group and the van drove us farther into and up the island where we would spend the next couple of hours zip lining with stunning views and then a nature walk through the forest back up. Thankfully, it was overcast, so I at least didn’t have to deal with the brightness. I still applied copious amounts of sunscreen though.

After our adventure ended, we were dropped off at the closest hop-on-hop-off bus stops, and caught that to the last stop which was Onetangi Beach. After all the heat and slight humidity, the strong breeze and the surf were lovely. We grabbed a tasty local lunch at a nearby restaurant, and caught the next bus back inwards.

I mentioned it earlier, but while there is public transit on the island, we bought a day pass for the hop-on-hop-off bus that stops at all the main tourist stops. Our next stops were one of the many wineries/vineyards on the island, and thence to an olive oilery. I don’t think it’s actually called that, but they grow their own olives and press their own EVOO. We had tastings at both (I skipped the wine), and two bottles were purchased. They had an amazing non-pesto herbal spread that I would have loved to bring back, but it needed to be kept refrigerated.

By this time in the day, the consequences of not putting on sufficient sunscreen on the day before whilst on the boat, had been rearing its ugly, scorched head. Between the pretty bad burn, and all the walking I started to develop edema, along with a bit of pain. So after a stop in the little village to have gelato, we had to call it a day.

We made it back to the ferry and then the 40-minute ride back across. I stopped by the grocery store for some aloe vera, and called it done for the day once I reached the hotel. Shower, aloe, feet up, and ordered pizza to be delivered. I was done.

Given my past adventures with walking, I’m going to rule out the mere 10k steps I did as the culprit, and go with the intense UV burn still radiating out of my legs as the cause for the swelling. Tomorrow at least is a lot of sitting, so here’s to being better then.