By Ulrich Speidel
While Auckland is New Zealand's number one gateway, it's often underrated terms of what it offers the visitor. That's not because it lacks attraction. Rather, Auckland is less reliant on the leisure tourism industry and doesn't advertise itself as widely as other regions of New Zealand do. This page is for those attendees with a few days to spend in the Auckland area, or who have family accompanying them.
Duration: Depends a bit on how fast you'll walk, and on whether you want to do sections by bus. Will easily keep you busy for a day, but can be done in two days at a more leisurely pace. What to take: comfortable walking shoes and a raincoat and an umbrella.
Start from the Langham reception and cross the street (Symonds Street) next to the big intersection. On the other side, find the small set of stairs leading down into the leafy historic cemetery. Hidden from the road, you'll find the graves of many celebrities from Auckland's and New Zealand's early history.
Back at street level, head east across Grafton Bridge to your left (the long narrow one). It's famous for being one of the first serious concrete bridges in NZ, and - you've guessed it - the curved plexiglass shields are there to prevent people from bungy-jumping without strings attached. Continue straight on past Auckland Hospital and follow the bend in the road until you see park gates to your left. This is the Auckland Domain.
What you see in front of you is the top of an old volcano. The large playing fields below you serve as the venue for free big outdoor concerts in summer - bring a blanket, picnic dinner, warm clothing, and yourself, and enjoy the music and fireworks in the evening.
Follow the road into the Domain and you get to the duck ponds - veer to the right here and you can't miss the Wintergardens, with their collection of tropical plants and flowers. Head on further up the hill and you can't miss the biggest building in the Domain, the Auckland Museum, which also doubles as the Auckland War Memorial. If you're keen on a bush walk first, head left into Lover's Lane from the duck pond car parks down along the creek and follow the path around the bottom of the Domain (NB: Lover's Lane is glow worm habitat - if you come here at night with a torch/flashlight and a friend or two for security, you should see some!)
Inside the Museum, you'll find recently refurbished collections of Maori and Pacific Islands artifacts, a Maori Village with large waka (canoe), many items on Auckland's natural and human history, and lots of other stuff worth seeing. Their Maori concert show is well worth seeing, and the view from the stairs outside is also quite nice.
Continue east on Domain Drive in the direction of Parnell, and you'll hit a large road. To your right, the road heads into Newmarket, an upmarket shopping area with numerous clothing and shoe shops, and a number of good outdoor stores, too. To your left, the road heads into Parnell - a long time ago a run-down port suburb but now teeming with the rich and famous.
Before you hit Parnell's restaurant and cafe strip, you'll see two churches on your right, which are worth noting. The white wooden church, St. Mary's, was moved to its present position from across the road in 1982. Moving house this way is not an uncommon thing to do in New Zealand, and this one is a more spectacular example of the art.
Just behind St. Mary's is Parnell Cathedral. It comes in two parts: The old brick part to the South ended literally in an unadorned brick wall when the church ran out of funds. This remained in place until the 1990's, when new funding was raised, and cathedral was "completed" by the new part with its Pacifica-inspired folded roof.
Head down the hill along the main drag and you'll pass plenty of opportunities to grab a bite or a drink, and some souvenir shops, art galleries and historic buildings, too. Continue under the railway bridge across the intersection, and on for about 200 metres after that. You'll then see Auckland's historic railway station on your right. The last train here left a long time ago, and the building is now used as student accommodation. Take a peek inside to sample some of the old grandeur of the place.
To the left of the station, you'll see the new arena. Walk past it so it's on your right and you'll get to the waterfront - well, as close as you can get at this point. Continue to the left and at the next intersection, cross diagonally to the historic red port fence. In the distance, you can now see the orangey-brown Ferry Building ahead. Head towards it.
After a short distance, you come to a small memorial commemorating the bombing of the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior in Auckland in 1985, by French agents, killing a photographer. This was at the wharf on the other side of the fence.
At the Ferry Building, you have several options. If you're ready for dinner, could take a ferry across to Devonport, climb Mt. Victoria, North Head. Princes Wharf, Hobson Wharf, Maritime Museum, America's Cup Village, Victoria Basin, Cup bases, AKL fish market, Westhaven Marina, Victoria Park Market, Ponsonby, K'Road, Sky Tower, Queen Street. Mt. Eden, Eastern Beaches, Cornwall Park Rangitoto, Waitakeres Regional parks