Wandering around Auckland, NZ

While in Auckland I easily stumbled upon the perfect self-guided walking tour of Auckland. I just spent more time looking for the guide to post a link to it than it took me to find it in the moment. HERE is the link. Though jetsettingfools.com lists this as a one-day guide to Auckland, we spread it over a few days, using it as a highlights guide rather than an exact itinerary. The crazy thing is, while in Auckland I tried to find a free walking tour (love free walking tours), and could not find one. Now that I am home and searching, all I could find at first were organized free walking tours and not self-guided walks. The difference? Time of year. September 1 is the first day of Spring, and by October the cruise ships have returned. When we were there in early September the weather was turning nice, but the streets were not yet filled with tourists. In that sense, it was the ideal time to visit.

The front desk directed us to the left and uphill to Albert Park, which was much smaller than I envisioned. On one side is the art gallery (which was undergoing renovations), and the other side has the gate keepers cottage (which is closed to the public). There is a 1.1 km path around the perimeter. It does have a lovely floral clock. Let's just say, it did not hold our attention as long as I thought it would. Walking away from it, I saw one of the only Little Free Libraries I saw on the trip. I grabbed a book about Filipina OFWs working throughout the globe, "They Called Me their Daughter," written by someone from Auckland. I tried to read it, but gave up partway on the trip and left it in Melbourne. 

We walked along the waterfront trying to stay awake, ending up at a café where I Googled walking tours of Auckland. I discovered we were following the suggested route without even trying. The website then became our guide for Auckland.

Regrouping we started the tour at it's official start: Britomart (and Auckland Ferry Terminal) and up Queen Street (the main drag). In the early 2000s a push was made to make Auckland more walkable and much of the street was converted to a pedestrian walkway. I did not get a good picture of the area. 

Our first impression of Auckland was to agree with what I've read, once you land get out as quickly as possible. After a few days, I was grateful we took the time to acclimate to the time zone by spending five days in Auckland. By the end we were living more like locals. 

The oldest buildings in Auckland are from 1840, which even by American standards are new. Much of downtown looked like it was built in the 1970s, a time not known for fabulous architecture even if it is now 50 years old.

Unfortunately nothing was playing
while we were in town

Town Hall

Aotea Center

Close up of inscription

The tour continued up Queen Street to Aotea Square, a lovely green space with a theater and the original Town Hall. We saw people doing Tai Chi in the square. It has the air of a great place to gather.

Loved how they were matching the statue

We walked over towards the Sky Tower. We did not go up in. As it was only a block from our hotel, we passed it seemingly hundreds of times. I felt as if I took a thousand pictures of it (a massive exaggeration). We had hoped to see someone bungee jump from it, though not enough to be the one bungee jumping from it. At one point we saw them setting up for it, but then it started to rain and the plan was scrapped. Wonder if the person came back to try again later, or felt they were spared a certain perceived death.

My favorite nighttime picture

Dominates the skyline

We continued to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which sits on the site of the original Catholic Church. We were there moments before mid-week noon mass was about to start, so we admired the stain glass windows and left before we were swept into staying for a service.

Something we noticed in this church, and later in most places we visited, there was a tap to donate kiosk discretely in the back. I wondered if our church should look into adding one to help people make donations when they visit.

The guide led us to the Fish Market and Viaduct Harbor, but as we had seen that earlier in the day, we deviated from the tour. We did return there later in our trip.

At this point we were close enough to the hotel to ask again (nicely) if the room was ready. Once ready, we put a pause on sightseeing to freshen up.