Three Days in Auckland

Auckland, based around two large harbours, is the major city on New Zealand’s North Island. It is the most populous urban area in the country consisting of almost one and a half million people. This constitutes thirty-two percent of New Zealand’s total population. Auckland is a beautiful harbour city with a thriving food scene and café culture.

Having spent a month touring New Zealand in our camper van, it was here that we parted company. We had picked it up in Christchurch on the South Island, touring extensively there, before heading to the North Island. After driving from the Coromandel Peninsula we left the camper van near Auckland airport. We were all a little sad having had a really fun time in our “home on wheels”  throughout the last four weeks.

We arrived in Auckland on a sunny afternoon and decided to wander around the cities waterfront. Starting at Britomart, a compact enclave of historical buildings that have been transformed into shops, bars and restaurants.

Then on to Viaduct Harbour, given a complete makeover for the 2000 and 2003 America’s Cup yachting events. Now a fancy dining and drinking venue with a real buzz on a fine evening. Connected to the Viaduct by a bascule bridge, Wynyard Quarter, opened in advance of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Here you will also find waterfront eateries, public plazas and a children’s playground. This is also the place to come to view the most amazing super yachts!

After reaching Silo Park at the western end of the Wynyard Quarter were re-traced our steps and stopped to eat at one of the many waterfront restaurants. The whole area was packed with people and had a great atmosphere. As we wandered back along the waterfront there were some great views of the Auckland cityscape.

The next day it was time for the Great Escape. The boys has been wanting to do one of these since we’d come across them in Australia. These are games where you are locked in a room for an hour and have to use clues and answers to puzzles to escape. We love a challenge!

There are three companies that operate escape games in Auckland and we chose Great Escape after looking at reviews on trip advisor. The five of us were “trapped behind enemy lines”. Using the clues provided, we had to figure out how to escape from the room. It was mentally challenging, had us thinking outside the box, and was a great teamwork activity. We did manage to escape, thirty seconds after the 60 minute deadline!  Apparently a valiant effort with a first time young team like ours (…and they didn’t mean me or Dave).

This is fun for the entire family. The hunt for clues, deciphering codes, unlocking drawers and cupboards for even more clues, we all had a great time. This is best for children twelve years and older, but our boys at 12, 11 and 8 were all able to contribute. Logan even solving the first clue to get us started! We will definitely be on the lookout for these games in the future. If you are in Auckland and want to play a game, we would recommend Great Escape. They have four rooms in total with another on the way. Prison Break and Psych Ward are the best rooms to get started on.

After our real life escape we visited the Sky Tower, at 328 metres it is the southern hemisphere’s tallest structure. The lift takes you up to the observation decks in just forty seconds. You can look down through the glass floor panels as you ascend to see just how high it really is! The views from the observation decks are impressive, 360 degree views of the entire city.

On our last day in Auckland we went onto the harbour with a trip to Devonport. We had thought from our research that this was a must see during our time in Auckland, billed as a well preserved Victorian and Edwardian village with many great cafes. We took a short, ten minute ferry, across the harbour with views back towards Auckland. Devonport disappointed however. There are some older style buildings along the waterfront which are attractive enough but there really isn’t much to see or do. We searched for a quaint cafe for lunch but couldn’t really find anything special. Afterwards we spent an hour or so wandering about but then decided to head back across the water to the city of Auckland.  We wished we had spent our time on a trip out to Waiheke Island to visit the vineyards and beaches there.

A characteristic of Auckland that we enjoyed is the compact city centre. It is easy to stroll around, enjoy the harbour redevelopments, visit some shops, and sit at one of the many open fronted cafe’s to watch the world pass by. There are also some great little frozen yoghurt and ice-cream shops which helped to fuel our hours of exploring this most relaxed of cities.

WHERE WE STAYED

We stayed in a fantastic apartment, found on Airbnb, within walking distance of everything. It had great views over the docks and waterfront. We’ve had mixed experience of Airbnb so far but this one was definetely a good one.