Day 19 - Tuesday 23 January 2024

Today I'm taking it a bit easier; I have a Discover Auckland Scenic Tour booked, so I don't see myself doing any meaningful hiking! My legs really haven't forgiven me for yesterday just yet, but at least I didn't get woken by cramp in my calves last night.

I was the first pick up at 09:20, and we had a bit of a tour of the downtown area while we went and picked up my fellow passengers; we were in a minibus, and all seats were taken. The final pickup was at the Queens Wharf, next to the ferry building.

Away on time, and we started with explorations of the Viaduct Basin and Wynyard Quarter; both areas which were industrial port areas but have now been developed for residential and social use. We had a talk about the Americas Cup by an old Americas Cup boat and the heritage that goes with that. There seems to be some disquiet here that as the current holders, New Zealand put hosting the next one out to tender when traditionally it's been hosted by the holders. The competition is being held in Barcelona later this year, and that feels like a lot of revenue to just give away.

We then visited Westhaven Marina which provided some fantastic views of the city skyline, before heading across the harbour bridge to Sulphur Beach Reserve, which provided an even better view of the city skyline.

The Auckland city skyline from Sulphur Beach Reserve.

We then had an explore of the Northcote Point area before recrossing the harbour bridge to the Ponsonby and Parnell districts; the first traditionally the workers suburb, and the latter the owners suburb .... both of which now seem to be up and coming areas after seeing some harder times.

There is a lot of building work happening in Auckland at the moment which is all to do with a new underground railway line that's being put in to link these communities to the downtown area and the rest of the rail network.

Then onto one of the extinct volcanoes; Mount Eden. We were informed that Auckland sits on a pool of magma which occasionally finds its way to the surface through the clay based soils. There are over 50 volcanoes around the Auckland area, but an interesting fact is than none of these ever erupts twice; it's easier for the magma to form a new path through the softer rocks than try to follow a hard basalt. The last major volcano was Rangitoto Island which appeared over 600 years ago, and it's only a matter of time until the next one appears.

Auckland city skyline from Mount Eden with Rangitoto Island in the right background

Anyway, from Mount Eden we had some fantastic views back across the city, and walked around the rim to enjoy the caldera and the views beyond.

The Mount Eden caldera with central Auckland in the background

We then drove up past the Auckland War Museum (built on another volcano rim!) and along the coast to Achilles Point where we were supposed to have had fantastic views, but the heavens opened at this stage and nobody felt like getting out of the bus, so we moved on!

Back to the central city area, and a tour of some of the smaller roads before heading up Queen Street for the first of the drop offs. The guide was lamenting the lack of people in Queen Street; the main shopping street in the city. Following the pandemic, many people are now working from home, so the central streets of Auckland are relatively dead. Many of the locally owned business have disappeared, and while the big national / multinational stores still seem to be doing OK, he feels that a tipping point may come when the rent contracts come up for renewal. This is the same everywhere in the world where the main shopping streets seem the be almost deserted as folks just are not working from central locations in the same way they were pre pandemic.

Auckland itself is the most populous city in New Zealand; New Zealand has a population of 5.1 people, and 1.6 million of these live in the Auckland region so it really is the major centre of population ... next is Canterbury with 666000 people. I'm therefore expecting the rest of the country to be pretty empty once I've left the Auckland area. 

Dropped back at my hotel at 14:30, and back to the room to start preparing for my departure tomorrow. I had contacted the car hire folks to check the pickup time and vehicle as both of these have changed since the original booking, and they replied with full details. It looks like I'll be getting a Mitsubishi Eclipse (2022/23 model) which will be ready for me at 09.00. 

So, that's Auckland pretty much done for me; an early check out at 08.00 so that I can get the 08:30 SkyDrive bus back to the airport, and start my New Zealand tour in earnest. For the rest of the day I have a bag to pack (again), get some dinner, and edit the week 3 video up to date.