Auckland Region

New Zealand’s first governor, William Hobson, chose the Auckland isthmus as the site for his new capital in 1840, renaming the area after Lord Auckland, first Lord of the Admiralty. That year the local Ngati Whatua tribe sold land to Hobson on the isthmus along with a huge block stretching north to the Kaipara Harbour, expecting that European settlement in the area would bring trade as well as protection from hostile tribes. The following year Hobson resold the land at high prices, averaging to £555 an acre, to the first settlers, including merchants, officials and soldiers. Other arrivals included 128 reformatory boys (known as ‘the Parkhurst boys’) from the Isle of Wight, all keen to make their fortune. Almost half of the immigrants came from Australia, many were Irish and there were also a number of Church missionaries, aiming to convert the local Maori to Christianity. Auckland was a government town in those early days, cut off from the rest of the country and relying on sailing ships traveling along the coast for transport. Rival settlements including Wellington lobbied the government to move the capital south, but nothing could stop Auckland’s growth, and by the 1850s settlers were flocking to the newly established province where free land grants of 40 acres per adult were being made. The city never looked back and today Auckland is known as the City of Sails, hosting every Anniversary Day, the world’s largest one-day regatta on the Waitemata Harbour. Aucklanders’ love of boating and easy access to two harbours as well as dozens of beaches has created a culture that revolves around the boat, the bach, the beach and the barbecue. Auckland’s beaches are crowded in summer, and on Friday nights there is a mass exodus from the city to holiday homes on the Whangaparaoa peninsula and beyond. Auckland is an easy city to get around by car and there are also ferry excursions to the North Shore and out to the islands of the gulf, which have been popular since the 1880s. There are plenty of places to explore and it's easy to for visitors flying in to New Zealand to hire a cheap car and take a drive around Auckland to see the sights and attractions of the city.

Aucklands historic waterfront.

1HISTORIC QUAY STREET

From the Ferry Building on Quay Street head east 1.7 km and continue on Tamaki Drive 0.9 km past Mechanics Bay to the overbridge leading to the Parnel Baths and a Judge Street up on the hill overlooking Judges Bay.
The old ferry building on Quay Street is one of the most distinctive landmarks on Auckland’s waterfront. Built by the Northern Steam Ship Company, who moved into the new building in 1899, this two-storey brick building originally featured dark green painted joinery, high ceilings and cast iron columns on each level supporting the floor above. A third floor was added in the same style in 1921. There was central doorway facing Queen Street and raised wooden boardwalks allowed passengers to walk across to the steamers, avoiding the mud in wet weather. The ferry building was a crowning achievement for the company, which by 1888 had been close to being wound up. A new general manager Charles Ranson was appointed however, and the Northern Steam Ship Company was reorganized, entering a new era of prosperity. It was Charles Ranson who proposed the new building, which was designed by the architect, Arthur P. Wilson, and it is now one of the few remaining examples of his work. The late 1800s and early 1900s were a time of growth along the waterfront and today you can see many historic commercial buildings lined up along Quay Street. These include the Union Fish Company Building at 116 Quay Street, the Seafarers Centre at no. 110, Quay Building at no. 106, Attrens House at no. 104 and the Wharf Police Station Building at no. 102 Quay Street. 

St Stephen's Chapel, Judges Bay.

2St Stephens CHAPEL

The walk crosses the Tamaki Drive overbridge and follows a pathway leading past the entrance to the Parnell Baths salt water swimming pools. Its a short 5 to 10 minute walk 0.5 km up the hill above the land-locked Judges Bay to the small historic Selwyn church overlooking the harbour. The entrance to the park and churchyard is at the end of Judge Street.
Built in 1857, St Stephens (Anglican) Chapel is one of the first Gothic Revival churches that was commissioned by Bishop Selwyn. Designed by Frederick Thatcher, this quaint wooden chapel features white painted board and batten exterior walls, a shingle roof and exposed internal truss work, all of which are characteristic of the Selwyn Churches. The Chapel of St. John's College at Meadowbank, St. Andrew's Church at Epsom, and All Saints' Church at Howick were also built for Bishop Selwyn. A walkway leads through the churchyard and the park across to the Parnell Rose Gardens on Gladstone Road.

Maori canoe, Okahu Bay.

3OKAHU BAY

Continue 2 km east along Tamaki Drive past the extensive marina complex which can be seen on the right in Hobson Bay. While driving across the causeway that crosses Hobson Bay, on the right you can see the historic wooden Ngapipi Boatsheds that were built in the 1930s on Ngapipi Road, then on the left when you reach Okahu Bay you will find numerous vessels hauled up onto the hardstand for maintenance overlooking this delightful small bay, only minutes from the centre of Auckland.
Okahu Bay was the site of Governor Hobsons visit to Auckland in 1841. Today you can still often see a Ngati Watua waka (canoe) on the beach during the summer months. Auckland was made New Zealands capital city until 1865 when Wellington became the capital. In the early days of the 20th century, ferries took picnickers to beaches along Auckland’s waterfront. The rail line from the city to Westfield was built across Hobson Bay and by 1932 the construction of Tamaki Drive was completed bringing about a new era of suburban development along the bays. The distinctive stone walls that can be seen along Tamaki Drive were built by Dick Lavas who emigrated to New Zealand from the Adriatic island of Korcula. He came from a family of stonemasons and opened a quarry in Auckland in 1927. The sea walls were his first big project and he went on to complete many of the stone works around Auckland.

4KELLY TARLTON'S ANTARCTIC ENCOUNTER AND UNDERWATER WORLD

Continue 1 km along Tamaki Drive to Kelly Tarlton's, the entrance and carpark are on the right.
This fascinating aquarium uses conveyor belts to slowly move people through curved acrylic tunnels inside a seascape of caves and reefs populated with over 1,800 marine creatures. This ingenious method of viewing the fish from inside the aquarium was pioneered by Kelly Tarlton, a renowned professsional diver and marine archaelogist. The aquarium also features an aquarium filled with stingrays and sharks (including bronze whaler, sevengill shark, wobbegong, and school sharks) as well as an Antarctic Encounter which begins at a replica of the hut used by Captain Robert Falcon Scott in 1911 on his ill-fated expedition to Antarctica before taking visitors on a Snow Cat ride through an icy Antarctic landscape, featuring a colony of sub-Antarctic penguins, a simulated snow storm and an attack by an orca.

The historic Mission House at Mission Bay.

5MISSION BAY

Continue for another 1.5 km east along Tamaki Drive past Bastion Point to Mission Bay.
One of the most popular beaches on Auckland's waterfont, Mission Bay is separated from Tamaki Drive by a large area of parkland. Featuring the distinctive Trevor Moss memorial fountain as well as the stone walled Melanesian Mission building, set amongst a stand of Norfolk pines, the bay is was the site of a Melanesian Mission station in the early 1860s. Bishop Selwyn brought promising young men from Melanesian islands to Mission Bay, where they were schooled during the summer months. Built in 1859 using basalt from nearby Rangitoto Island, the building (now a restaurant) was used to train missionaries until 1867, later becoming part of a naval training school, an industrial school and then from 1915 until the early 1920s, a flying school run by the Walsh Brothers', who trained many of New Zealands' airborne personnel during the First World War. They were also responsible for the first flying boat to be flown in the southern hemisphere, Leonard and Vivian Walsh, with the help of their sisters, having designed and built the craft which took off from Bastion Point on New Year’s Day, 1915

6KOHIMARAMARA

Continue another 1.5 km east along Tamaki Drive to Kohimaramara.
With its rows of pohutukawa trees overhanging this long sandy beach, on Sunday mornings in summer, Kohimaramara is a popular venue for yacht racing, including P-Class races for young children run by the Kohimaramara Yacht club.

Continue east another 1.5 km along Tamaki Drive to St Heliers.

AROUND THE BAYS

St Heliers is the finishing point for the annual 'Around the Bays' run which attracts around 70,000 joggers every February from all over New Zealand and other parts of the world. First held in 1972, the event has grown to become one of the world's largest fun-runs. Starting at Quay Street the 8.4 km long course follows Tamaki Drive along Auckland's Waitemata harbour. Now festooned with modern high rise buildings, set among the older villas, St Heliers was still mainly made up of open pastures until the late 1920s. In the early days of Auckland the main way to reach St Heliers was by boat which took about 30 minutes and was a lot faster than the long overland route via Newmarket, Remuera and Meadowbank. Formed in 1882, the St Heliers and Northcote Land Company provided a horse tram service for Auckland and built a 500 m long pier at St Heliers before becoming insolvent. Back then St Heliers was a centre for local farmers and the location of a few villas owned by wealthy business people. In the 1920s the construction of Tamaki Drive opened up the bays to commuters and made them a popular place for picnics.

7LADIES BAY

You can follow the shoreline and walk around the rocks at low tide to Ladies Bay or continue up Cliff Drive 1 km where a short but steep flight of stairs provides access to Ladies Bay (also known as Karaka Point) to the east of St Heliers.
Despite the growth of Auckland city this secluded bay has retained the character it had in when Governor Hobson arrived here on 9 July 1940, to collect the marks and signatures of local Ngati Paoa Maori chiefs on the Treaty of Waitangi. Just around the corner is the entrance to the tidal estuary where the Tamaki River flows into the Waitemata Harbour, from its origins near Mangere. The river was once a vital link to the Manukau for the Maori, who travelled up the river and hauled their canoes across the narrow strip of land at Otahuhu to reach the harbour on the other coast.

8ST JOHN'S CHAPEL

Head south 0.3 km on Springcombe Road and turn left into Glover Road, drive 0.8 km and turn right into Riddell Road. Head south 0.5 km and continue on Maskell Street 1.1 km. Continue southwest 1.7 km on St Heliers Bay Road and turn left onto St Johns Road. Continue 0.8 km and take the 2nd exit at the roundabout to stay on St John’s Road. St John’s College with its Selwyn chapel is 0.2 km on the right.
The oldest surviving example of a style of Gothic Revival architecture that was adopted by Bishop Selwyn, to became known as the Selwyn churches, the chapel at the St John’s College in Meadowbank is also the third oldest surviving church in New Zealand. Consecrated in 1847 by Bishop Selwyn, the chapel contains memorials to many well known New Zealand clergymen. Featuring the characteristic steeply pitched roof, overhanging eaves, early English fenestration and carefully calculated proportions that distinguish the Selwyn churches, St John’s chapel was designed by Frederick Thatcher and incorporates curved exterior bracing along with an interior that features a hammerbeam roof. The basic design layout is that of a cruciform chapel with two apsidal ends. In 1959 the nave was extended and a vestry was also added. Today St John's College is the residential theological college for New Zealand’s Anglican and Methodist churches.

Ellerslie racecourse.

9ELLERSLIE RACECOURSE

Continue 1.4 km on St John’s Road and then continue 1.8 km on Remuera Road. Continue 0.8 km on Green Lane East Road. Ascot Ave and the entrance to the Ellerslie Racecourse is on the left. The motorway and SH1 is another 0.4 km, west on Green Lane East Road.
Set in 12 ha of parkland, Ellerslie Racecourse is an undulating, grass circuit that is the venue for New Zealand's major horse races, held during two major racing carnivals. The Summer Carnival is run in the period between Christmas and New Year while the Auckland Cup Week, held in March, features the New Zealand Derby, a thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses run over a distance of 2400 m. The race combines the original New Zealand Derby, which was run in Riccarton, Christchurch from 1860, with the Great Northern Derby, which was run in Ellerslie from 1875. The Auckland Cup is an Open Handicap for thoroughbred racehorses over 3200 m and was first contested in 1874. The Great Northern Steeplechase is also held at Ellerslie. Run over 6400 m, this is a demanding race that features the "hill" which the horses climb 3 times during the event. The first race meeting was held in 1874, in the days when it took hours to get to Ellerslie by carriage, because the racecourse was still in farmland outside the city. The first automatic totalisator, designed by George Julius, was installed at Ellerslie 1913 and today there is a small museum at the course covering the history of racing.