AUCKLAND? GAME ON!
Saturday’s Lions v. All Blacks rugby showdown is a chance for this great city to bask in the limelight
RiO, cape Town, Sydney. They’re all thrilling ocean-side cities — just like Auckland, in fact. But where new Zealand’s largest urban centre picks up points is that it’s far more manageable than any of the above. You can walk everywhere; it’s safe; the food is reliably good; the Maori culture thrives; and hundreds of little islands await in what amounts to a spectacular archipelago.
What’s more, they really love their rugby.
WHEN TO GO
FAMOuSLY, in the city of the Sails, you can experience all four seasons in one day, but best to go in new Zealand’s summer (decMarch) when sea breezes make the temperatures comfortable. The Live Well Festival in October also comes highly recommended. Weave your way around the array of exhibitions, graze through the healthy food stalls, and listen and learn from the country’s top lifestyle, wellness and nutrition speakers
TAKE IT EASY
MOre than 1.6 million people live here, but it seldom feels like it. By the standards of many cities of the same size, the pace is remarkably relaxed.
At weekends, along the pier in the Wynyard Quarter, people do stuff: tango dance classes, paddling, reading in pop-up libraries, practise gymnastics. There are also children’s playgrounds, exhibitions and cleverly designed restaurants occupying old industrial buildings.
CULTURE HUB
AuckLAnd Art Gallery (aucklandartgallery.com), just off Wellesley Street, is fascinating, not least because its striking glass and wood atrium has been grafted on to the 1887 French chateau frame.
The Auckland War Memorial Museum (auckland
museum.com), in the central district of Grafton, is renowned for its collection of Maori and Pacific treasures and as a memorial to those who died for their country.
TOP SHOP
Queen Street and some of the small alleyways off it offer a good choice in the centre of town, as does Britomart, occupying several blocks of heritage buildings.
Boutique central is now the fashionable Ponsonby district. Prices for merino wool and cashmere are steep, but you can’t fault the quality.
The same cannot always be said for jade, with souvenir shops passing duds off as the real deal.
For new Zealand’s famous paua shells head for Tessuti
(tessuti.co.nz) and for lovely sweaters the weight of feathers try twenty-seven names (twentysevennames.co.nz).
LEAP OF FAITH
The 328metre Sky Tower is the tallest man-made structure in the southern hemisphere — but with this one, you can jump off it and live to tell the tale.
A lift takes just under 40 seconds to get you to the 220m-high viewing platform. You can walk around the outside of it without rails or a balcony but in a harness. Or plunge downwards at 53 miles an hour for 11 seconds, by base jumping on a wire.
But if you’d rather not, there’s a revolving restaurant offering ‘high tea in orbit’. Or for a full culinary experience, book a table at The Sugar club, Peter Gordon’s fusion extravaganza, where the waiters take longer to explain the dishes than it does to eat them.
WHERE TO STAY
nOT cheap (from £213 for a double), but the Skycity Grand hotel is in a buzzy spot almost opposite the Sky Tower and casino (skycity
auckland.co.nz). Great views if you bag a room high up.
Otherwise, try the Scenic hotel, from £109 per night, on Queen Street (scenichotel group.co.nz). SPOiLT for choice. But an outdoor table at Soul
(soulbar.co.nz) on the waterfront will do nicely. Make sure you order some Bluff oysters — they’re big and creamy and come from the southernmost waters in the world. And drinks into the early hours at The Golden dawn must be on your agenda.
FOOD AND DRINK DAYS OUT
cATch a 45-minute ferry to enchanting — and well-healed — Waiheke island, where you can go zip-wiring, kayaking, hiking, wine-tasting or just hang out on one of the island’s 97 beaches, most of which are sandy. Lunch at Tantalus a new winery where the canadian owners have worked wonders to make this a destination restaurant in lush surroundings.
WHAT ELSE?
The Maoris were here some 800 years ago and it’s well worth experiencing the Auckland Maori Tour & cultural Performance.
explore Tamaki Makaurau with its volcanoes and the amazing West coast, be guided around the Auckland Museum and see the cultural Performance, including the famous haka war dance, which the British & irish Lions will encounter on Saturday.
MARK PALMER