Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland is on the North Island and is the largest city in New Zealand.  The city is home to almost 1,5 million people with about 1,6 million  in the greater metro area" almost 32% of the entire country's population.

The city landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcano cones.  With Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean, Auckland is one of only a handful of cities in the world with harbour on two separate major bodies of water.

It's also the only city in the world that is built on an active basaltic volcano field.

The Māori first settled the area around 1350.  The British established a colony here in 1840.

The city is quite diverse and it is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world.  In Māori, the city is called Tāmaki.

Auckland is often ranked among the world's best cities to live.




Sky Tower is the city's best known landmark.  It is 328 meters (1,076 feet) tall.  While it is the world's 23rd tallest tower it is the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere.  The tower was built to withstand an 8,0 earthquake within a 20-km (~13 mile) radius.

St. Paul's is the city's oldest church.  The church was consecrated in 1895 and it has served as the Anglican Cathedral for more than 40 years.

The Auckland Town Hall was built in 1911.

Aotea Square opened in 1979 and is used for markets, open-air concerts and rallies.  It underwent major redevelopment in 2010.

The Civic Theatre opened in 1929 and it's where we saw Priscilla on our second night here.  The theatre is really beautiful and the design and lighting creates an open auditorium feel complete with twinkling stars.

The Auckland Art Gallery is the city's principal public gallery.  With over 16 000 pieces it is holds the most extensive art collection in the country.  The modern extension was completed in 2011.



St. Patrick's Cathedral is a 19th century building.  The Catholic cathedral was completely renovated in 2007.





The Auckland War Memorial Museum was built in 1929.  It is very well done and defiantly worth a visit.


St. Matthew's Anglican Church was consecrated in 1905.  The church building has a 1300-year-old stone from the ruins of the St. Augustine Abbey in England.

Rangitoto in the background

Rangitoto Island is only a 25-minute ferry ride from the harbour.  It's a great little day drip for a bit sunshine and hiking.





About an hour's drive east is the Muriwai Gannet Colony.  About 1200 pairs of gannets nest here from August to March ever year.

My First Bonfire Night

Tonight was my first Bonfire Night.  It's also known as Guy Fawkes Night and it is celebrated every 5th of November.

Quick history lesson...Catholics were persecuted under Elizabeth I's rule for 45 years.  Many had hoped that when Protestant King James I ascended the British throne that they would be free to practice their religion.

When that didn't happen, in 1605, a group of Catholic conspirators planned to assassinate the King and blow up the house of Parliament.


The assassination attempt failed and Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators of the Gun Powder Plot, was executed with his co-conspirators.  So every 5th of November, there's a celebration to commemorate the failed attempt.

Remember, remember!

The fifth of November,

The Gunpowder treason and plot;

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Many communities across the United Kingdom have fireworks and a bonfire where an effigy of Guy Fawkes is burned.  In Northern Ireland, bonfires aren't held in Catholic neighbourhoods; just the Protestant ones.

The celebration was exported to many British colonies.  In New England, it pretty much ended with the American Revolution.  It is still celebrated in New Zealand, South Africa, and parts of Canada.

We decided to drive out in search of Auckland fireworks but didn't have a lot of success.  We ended up at the beach by Devenport and watched people light fireworks.  We loaded a German immigrant a lighter for his daughter's sparklers and she gave each of us a sparkler.  It was very sweet.

Here's a video I found on YouTube that talks about Guy Fawkes Night.

©Anglophenia

Day Four in Auckland

Today's Auckland adventure started off with brunch and then a trip up to Mount Eden, a leafy suburb only about 4 km (2,5 miles) from the Central Business District.



Mount Eden is dominated by the dormant volcano which can be see from across the city.  The mountain was declared a public reserve in 1879.




It's a great place for brilliant views of the city.

Next us was a trip to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  The neo-classical building sits, on the remains of a dormant volcano, connected to a large public park.  The museum was inaugurated in 1929.


In front of the museum is a memorial to those who died in WWI and WWII.

A Māori Pataka

The museum was very well done.  

It covered a good deal of New Zealand history including the Treaty of Waitangi.

There is quite a bit dedicated to New Zealand's contributions in the Boer War in South Africa, WWI, and WWII.


Gottfried Lindauer (1839 - 1926) was born in Plzeň, Bohemia, during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His Czech birth name was Bohumír but later changed it to the German translation while studying to be an artist in Vienna.  So as to avoid being drafted in to the Austrian army in first went to Germany and in 1874 he immigrated to New Zealand.


He is best known for his portraits of prominent Māori chiefs who had commissioned his work.

These three paintings are currently on loan to the Auckland Art Gallery.

There is gallery with a permanent exhibition about Volcanoes.  I guess that's appropriate for a country located in the Ring of Fire.  The exhibition was interesting.  There's a 10-minute simulation where you enter a model home and experience an earthquake as an Auckland volcano erupts.  The last Auckland eruption was about 600 years which created Rangitoto.  Hopefully this exhibit is as close to a real Auckland volcano eruption as we'll experience. 

Day Three in Auckland

Today was another full day in Auckland.  We started out in the Devonport suburb, about 15 minutes away.

The North Head Historic Reserve has been listed as a Category I historic place since 2001.  The military used it for defence until 1950.

The area contained three gun batteries and an extensive tunnel system linking underground store rooms and observation posts.

View of Rangitoto from North Head

It's a nice place for a short, easy hike and there's a nice view of Rangitoto Island.





Next up was the Torpedo Bay Navy Museum.  It opened in 2010 and is the official museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy.

The museum chronicles New Zealand's naval history from the 1845 Flagstaff War.

The museum is very well done and quite educational.  I, for one, never knew that New Zealand had participated in the Vietnam War.




After lunch we drove about an hour to the Muriwai Gannet Colony.







Each year, from August to March, about 1200 pairs of gannets nest here.







From the car park, there's a short walking track to a viewing platform over the colony.   There's also nice views of the beach.





It's great that Czechland is right in the centre of Europe but if only it had a beach.





This evening we had a special treat.  Natalie pulled some strings (no pun intended) and got us tickets to see the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

The NZSO was founded in 1946 and is based in Wellington.  Tonight's programme was Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor and Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major.  The performance was wonderful.


They played at Auckland Town Hall which has a separate concert chamber.

Day Two in Auckland

Today was a proper fun filled day.  The first item on the list was to take a 25-minute ferry from Auckland to Rangitoto Island.

Rangitoto Island, actually the Rangitoto Island Scenic Reserve, is a 5.5 km (3,4 mile) volcanic island located in the Hauraki Gulf.  It is the largest, and most recent, of the 50 or so volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field.


The island was formed at least 6000 years ago by a series of eruptions.  The most recent eruptions took place 550 to 600 years ago.

The volcano's crater

When New Zealand was first colonised by the British Crown, the island was purchased in 1854 for only £15.  What a bargain.

Lava tunnel

In 1890 it became a recreational reserve.

During WWII, military facilities were installed to help protect Auckland and to house U.S. troops.

As of 2011 the island is pest free and visitors are not allowed to bring any animals on to the island.  Rangitoto has more than 200 species of trees and flowers including over 40 different types of fern.  Hiking up a volcano across lava fields makes it a popular day trip from the city.

View of Auckland from Rangitoto

After a full day on the island, and another trip up to the top of the Sky Tower, it was nap time before getting ready for the theatre.

The production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert recently opened in Auckland and we were able to get tickets.

The Civic Theatre first opened in 1929.  After a major conservation effort it reopened in 2000.  The theatre is well known for its atmospheric style.  Thanks to the design and lighting it gives the audience the impression of being in an outdoor auditorium complete with twinkling stars.

The show was amazing!  I think it's even better than the original film.  Here's a short video I found out on YouTube.

©Auckland Live

Made it to New Zealand

We made it to Kiwi Land!  Kia Ora!!

British Airways 7h40m SIN-SYD

We left Singapore last night and arrived in Auckland this afternoon.  The flight from Singapore to Sydney, Australia, was just over 7½ hours long.   We had a little over an hour to go through security and get to our connecting flight.

Our flight to Auckland was 3¼ hours long.  We then had to go through customs and immigration in Auckland.  They take it seriously here.

Quantas Airlines 3h15m SYD-AKL

At immigration the officer asked me what my travel plans were.  Auckland-Napier-Dunedin-Wellington.  He then asked me why on earth was I going to Dunedin?  Unless, of course, I was Scottish (I'm not).  Hmmm...I guess I'll figure out why next week.

Anyway, immigration was easy.  Customs was a bit more complicated.  Not for us but for a few other people.  New Zealand relies heavily on its agriculture so they have very strict biosecurity regulations.  You can not bring in honey or fruit.  Not even an apple from the plane (because the apple may not have originated from New Zealand).  Most airports have drug dogs.  In New Zealand the dogs are trained to sniff out fruit.  The automatic fine is $400NZ (€259 / $290 US).

If your hiking boots are dirty they will even take and clean them for you.  No problems for us but of course there were a few people who didn't bother to notice all of the signs warning what not to try to bring in to the country.

New Zealand really is far away.  It's 10 hours ahead of Brno, so basically a day ahead.  And it's in the Southern Hemisphere which means the seasons are flipped.  November here is Spring! 

At the top of AZ Tower

But the best part of arriving in Kiwi Land was Natalie waiting for us at arrivals.  Even though I just saw her in September it still seems like ages.

Our first day here has been settling in to the hotel and a bit of exploring Auckland.  We even went to the top of Sky Tower.  Tomorrow looks to be a hike to a volcano and we picked up tickets to see Priscilla at the Civic Theatre.

Hawker Centres

The food in Singapore was awesome!

Especially at the hawker centres.  They are basically open-air places that serve inexpensive street food.



When you go to a hawker centre there can be hundreds of stalls.  The best rule of thumb is to choose the ones with the longest queues.



Most are self service so once your food is ready then you take it to your seat.  All of the tables have numbers and some will deliver the food to your table but I never saw that.



The centres can get quite busy so it's fine to take an empty seat across from a stranger.

When you're finished you just leave your trays as there is staff to bus and clean the tables.



The national dish is "Chicken Rice" which is chicken and rice cooked in broth and served with cucumbers, black sauce and chilli sauce.



My favourite was the laska which is a bowl of noodles in a coconut curry broth with chicken and fish balls.

Hawkers are popular across Singapore and I believe that they are also in Malaysia and Hong Kong.  Here's a short video I found on YouTube that gives you a feel for the hawker centres.

©Condé Nast Traveler