However, there were a few surprises in store.
A picnic on Christmas Day at St Heliers Beach was one more thing to tick off the bucket list.
For years, a barbecue Christmas lunch, and a picnic on Christmas Day, had been in the planning.
Three years ago, we finally had the barbecue and in 2010, my son Sean organised a picnic on the beach in Auckland in warm, sunny weather.
Mission Bay was shoulder-to-shoulder, so we kept driving until we found a bench by the beach where we could unpack our goodies.
Two hours later, Sean left for work at the inner city hotel where he is a chef, and I had a nap.
Later, I wandered down Queen St, to Hotel de Brett where Sean had booked me a table for dinner, right beside where he and two other chefs were cooking.
Fabulous food and wine, including a wonderful Central Otago pinot noir.
We planned to have the final day together wine-tasting on Waiheke, a recommendation from my daughter Lauren.
Sean and I met at the ferry terminal, just as the wind became almost gale force and the rain went from spitting to drops the size of a cricket ball with the same intensity (a slight exaggeration).
I did not have a coat and was wearing a light summer shirt and shorts, as it was still 24degC.
It was then I began thinking that a ferry trip to Waiheke was not the best plan in the world, but we were committed, as I had bought tickets, so we boarded.
The first five or so minutes were calm before the ferry hit the wind and the waves, bringing back memories of some rugged Cook Strait crossings.
While some people managed to eat and drink their way across the harbour, the next 35 minutes were tough for others.
Disembarking at Waiheke was a relief, and I wondered about the wisdom of drinking wine all day if the return journey was going to be as rough.
We consoled ourselves that we were five hours away from returning, the wind would be behind us, and it could even fade away.
We rashly made a decision to walk into Oneroa.
The sign said it was a 20-minute walk and we agreed it would not take finely-tuned athletes 20 minutes to walk that far.
As it happened, we timed our walk just as the worst rain of the daybegan to fall.
Our arrival at Oneroa was something to see.
I was soaked through, seriously soaked. My thin summer shirt was reduced to a rag on my back as we sheltered outside a fishing supply shop.
Lunch was needed, plus a reviving wine.
We walked into the restaurant, the waitress took one look and, in the understatement of the year, said how wet I looked. She dashed away to get paper towels while steering us into the wine bar.
As the cold set in, I wandered back to the fishing supply shop and spent $40 on a new sports shirt. It had to be done.
While I was shopping, drying off and changing, Sean had ordered lunch of squid in a chilli salsa, garlic bread and pizza.
The waitress came over and I asked for her recommendation on wine.
We started with a Cable Bay white to clear the palate and when the meal arrived, so did a Weeping Sands 2007 cabernet merlot - a melt-in-the-mouth wine that went perfectly with the food.
By the time we had finished, the rain had eased enough for us to decide that tasting wine was still an option and off we went to the bus stop.
Sitting there waiting for the bus to Onetangi, I struck up a conversation with a resident, who was quietly sipping on a beer.
An artist, he had not been long on Waiheke, but was captivated with the island and its lifestyle. Originally from Norfolk Island, he volunteered, he had been away from New Zealand for 20 years.
He also said he was a boarder at Rangiora High School, in my childhood home town.
He was exactly 10 years younger than me, and as we talked about Rangiora, I told him of the great rush of housing development that now even encircled the racecourse.
Lloyd was a boarder for three years before boarding privately with a family at Ohoka where the father was a potter.
Immediately, I asked him if it was the family of a schooldays close friend.
It was. I caught him up with the fortunes of the family.
Just as our bus arrived, Lloyd said the hairs on his arms and back of his neck were tingling with the randomness of our conversation.
Sean was fascinated that his father could strike up a conversation in a bus shelter on Waiheke and end up talking about Rangiora, Ohoka and mutual acquaintances.
Just as we arrived at Stonyridge Winery, the skies opened again.
We decided to taste Stonyridge wine until the rain stopped.
Tasting was not cheap at $8 a glass, plus a surcharge, but the wine was nice and having some time with my son in those circumstances was, as the advertisement says, "priceless".
We started with the Pilgrim (syrah, mourvedre and grenache) and moved on to Luna Negra (malbec).
Both were delicious but the Pilgrim was my pick.
We then moved up a large jump to Larose which sells at $200 a bottle and $15 a tasting.
Dene and Sean were served by Dane, which had some nice symmetry going for it.
It did not stop raining until 5pm, the time the bus back to the ferry was due so we did not taste any other wines.
My daughter kept texting asking if we were back in Auckland.
Well, no. We were enjoying the day.
The ferry ride back was smooth as silk.
We caught a bus back to our respective accommodation, having one last hug in Ponsonby Rd as Sean alighted first.
It was a day to remember and I will.
