Waiheke, NZ (February 23, 2026)
Today, my son Will, daughter Violet and I met up with Mirjam Grayson, Mel Burdett and Cheryl Robinson on the island of Waiheke to explore, hike and swim in the ocean. My wife Elena took a recovery day so that she could recharge her batteries.
Violet, Will, me, Mirjam Grayson, Mel Burdett and Cheryl Robinson
Yes, the banana hat strikes again, this time in New Zealand. If you’re not familiar with the banana hat and want the backstory, you can read about it on LinkedIn. This was one of two meet-ups with coaches in New Zealand. I’m excited to see Yvonne McLean and her friends for dinner before we leave and head out to Fiji. But I digress. Today was about exploring the island of Waiheke.
I met Cheryl Robinson at the ferry terminal in Auckland and had a wonderful chat during the short 30 minute ride to the island. We were joined by a young family and an adorable 9 month old baby who just wanted to join in on all the conversation (but lacked the skills so far).
Auckland ferry building as we push off for Waiheke
Mirjam Grayson and Mel Burdett met us when we arrived on the island of Waiheke and drove us to some epic spots on the island to show us around and get a sense of how they live here. For example:
Gorgeous cliff overlook of the nearby beaches, ships and landscape
The island has continued to grow and prosper and is a popular destination for cyclists who want to bike the whole of the island and even backpackers who choose to do the same on this well marked road and corresponding trails:
“WE ARE HERE” and headed to Palm Beach (after a short hike)
Violet is enjoying honey suckle as we admire the view from this first stop. I don’t think our people pictures did this stop justice. Here’s what we were admiring:
Look at the deep aqua blue colors of the water around this island!
For our next stop, we followed a trail to one of the higher mountain peaks for the best view of Auckland as well as the rest of the island. This was a very fun trail and we saw some local birds along the hike.
Notice all the incredible wildlife. Both my kids were taking a ton of flower pictures to send to Nana (Connie Knies, my mother-in-law who loves gardening). I followed along once they drew my attention to the smaller wild flowers and strokes of bright color dotting the lush green landscapes. I also loved this beautifully carved totem. It has the effect of showing a wooden “shell” over the carved elements sending the message to allow all of us to release the beauty often hidden inside of us. At least, that’s the message I took away from this sculpture – I’m sure there’s even more symbolism and meaning behind it.
Cheryl pointed out that during the month of December, this amazing beautiful tree (i.e. the really big one) flowers with bright red flowers – usually right around the Christmas holiday. Nature’s contribution to the holiday decorations.
Breaking for lunch at the top of the hike with sweeping views
At the top of the hill (mountain?), we stopped to have a wonderful picnic lunch. I was feeling a bit sore and remembered that I had run a 10k (6.2 miles) that morning and that I hadn’t ran more than 5k in quite some time. My body was then going up these hills and had some feedback for me. My Apple Watch recorded more than 26,000 steps and the day was only about half way done. I made a mental note to get a Thai massage the next day.
After lunch, we were ready to go for a swim. We headed down to the beach. But before we jumped in the water, we set up under a tree with shade that also just happened to have a rope swing. Hot damn! Violet, Will and I took turns pushing each other to get maximum height.
Will in mid-push of Violet as we test the height of this rope swing
Pushing off the tree itself to get momentum
Lovely day overall. The water in the ocean was cool and welcoming. We enjoyed swimming around for awhile and enjoying our time on the beach. We mostly air dried by going back on the swings afterwards. Lovely day in Waiheke and I’m sure we were just scratching the surface of all this beautiful island has to offer.
The Carmodys had a lovely time on the island of Waiheke
