All the hype in Matakana is over the Farmers Market, but to be honest my favourite place to go on a…read moreSaturday morning is the Cream of Matakana. It's just down the road, still in the village, in what used to be a dairy factory. Today it's a gift store, and one of my favourites! They do unique art, jewellery, home wares, clothing and a great range of wooden toys. Its like ferreting in a treasure trove; I always end up leaving with something. On Saturdays they have a market outside; a selection of brick-a-brac, food, sunglasses and clothing. The quality of the stalls can vary, and there is a lot of junk but its fun looking through the antiques and scoring a bargain. If you haven't filled up at the farmers market, there is also DELICIOUS Hungarian style bread for sale. The hot cinnamon kind cooked on the rotisserie; scrummo.

Piece is a contemporary art gallery tucked underneath Matakana Cinema. Every time I walk passed…read morethere seem to be brilliant new creations in the window. They have amazing recycled glass light fixtures and wall hangings. The jewellery is really unique and made in different and interesting mediums. They do beautiful exhibitions in ceramics and glass from a range of NZ artists. Recently they had the vase exhibition; who would have thought vases could be so interesting, there were some real funky items. Although there's no way I can afford any of it, I would love to have one of these fun creative pieces in my home, something to aspire to I guess!

We were driving to Tawharanui Regional Park and noticed the sculptures peeking out from inside a…read moregarden and decided we must stop in. We are so glad that we did. We found a lovely art gallery that even includes pieces from Chihuly that led to a couple of beautiful gardens adjacent to the gallery. Beyond this there is yet another larger sculpture garden with meandering paths that sometimes led to aviaries as well as other small animal areas (such as rabbits). They will be having a couple of "native" pigs join the property soon as they just arrived today. We met the owners, Anthony and Sandra Grant as she arrived on property with their new pets. Between our visit to the gallery and the larger sculpture garden, we stopped by for a wine tasting and met Tina who was generous and informative sharing about the wines grown on their estate. The Gallery Syrah and Bordeaux Blend were our favorites. Much appreciation is extended to Tina for her kindness and hospitality! After the sculpture garden, we ventured over to their restaurant, Rothko. Unfortunately for us, the restaurant was fully booked with reservations. Fortunately for us, they had seating at the picnic tables outside and they served wine and small bites. Overall, we had a very pleasant experience and will definitely be back!

Fabulous collection if (mostly) modern art sculptures set in beautifully manicured gardens and chic…read moreindoor galleries. One hour from auckland cbd... we were tourists, renting a city hop car (very reasonable and convenient)... 1 hour to get there and 3 hours in the setting, well worth the time and expense!

Yesterday I was on a mission to view as many art galleries as I could in the city, honestly I…read moredidn't get to many, considering the size of Auckland their isn't actually a great deal around. I have heard that Wellington is the 'art capital' which I look forward to visiting one day. So, Lonely Dog Gallery I heard about you from a previous Yelp review and decided to go pay you a visit. The work here is thematic, comical, fine art and well presented. It is obviously in a specialised market which I am pleased to see does good business - I took note of quite a few red dots (art that has been bought). Plus being in such a good location next to Britomart's transport centre in the hub of the city must mean a lot of tourism flow through. I was also relieved to find it easy to get to, unlike some other inner city galleries I couldn't even find the bloody door to get inI d Although I didn't but any of the art I did buy one of the cards of the art, for my eldest sister in mind, (a big fan of dogs), $5.00 each or you can buy them in packs. They have a description on the back which added to the appeal.

Lonely Dog recently moved down Customs Street a few hundred metres closer to Queen Street…read more Otherwise, it's still the exact same intriguing spot for a quick look as it's always been. For those that don't know, Lonely Dog is a sort of art phenomenon started by Kiwi artist Ivan Clarke who one day started adding human-esque dogs into his dramatic landscape works. It's a sort of weird comic book meets fine landscape art mix, and as such it makes for some pretty surreal stuff with all sorts of symbolic parallels drawn between the dogs and reality. Can't say I've ever bought anything from here, but it's a fun place to linger for a few minutes for a look if you're in the area.

If you have artistic flare but not the traditional type, then come on down to 85 Cavendish Drive…read more(in the hub with Big Save Furniture, PK Furniture and Reece), there is a massively long drive way that backs onto Chipmunks which has fantastic graffiti art all over it. Graffiti artists from all around the world have come here and painted magnificent pieces, showing off their talents and skills which have made them known world wide. Before meeting my boyfriend never was I into this art, but it really is quite unique. These big bold pieces are done with spray cans and spraying techniques. I would never have known that those fine straight lines were all done freehand. It really is an art and far from the horrible eye sore tagging which gives graffiti a bad name. This local flavour is totally worth coming to view. It gives so much character to the area. I truly am a fan!

This store is great because it doesn't cater to the 'kitschy' side of New Zealand art and design as…read moremuch as some souvenir type stores like it do. It's more of an Art Gallery rather than a store. And affordable too. I love artist Tony Cribbs 'Adventures of Tin man' series and always like to pick something up whenever I see one in a store or gallery. They are just too cute. And funny as well. I always get compliments on them whenever I have people over to mine. They just exemplify the New Zealand sense of humor so well. I like the fact that Mana also has prints of a lot of their artworks so if you can't afford the actual original artwork itself there are still opportunities for you to own a slice of something. I'm currently crushing on one of their artworks, one of a Maori girl/princess wrapped in a traditional woven cloak. I may have to settle on the print of this one myself!

If you're looking for some absolutely beautiful local art, jewellery or gifts for someone visiting…read moreNew Zealand to take home with them or even to send to someone abroad, this place should be your one stop shop. They've got a fairly small but carefully curated collection of glassware, paintings and sculptures alongside jewellery and cards and other nick-nacks. My favourite things in here are the necklaces. Long thin silver chains with bird and flower pendants, which were gorgeous and really unusual. Things like this range from around $40 up to $400, so you're sure to find something no matter what your budget. I've been looking for a Green Stone necklace for my partner for quite some time and have never been able to find one that I really love, but the ones in Mana are the nicest I've seen in Auckland. Plus they were playing Ben Howard on the stereo when I walked in, which just made me like it even more.

A free museum? Sign us up. We did the kid games and kid packet in the first floor exhibit on the…read moreMāori and local culture. What a story and history lesson with modern art approaches. The staff were so kind and recommended which exhibits to try and the we just spent an hour or two in the clay zone making our own art! This is well worth an afternoon and our next trip will include visit to the cafe when the rain hits!

Gorgeous Art gallery in the heart of Auckland! My husband and I enjoyed strolling the gallery…read moreduring a recent trip. I really enjoyed their Manet and Picasso pieces. If you have a few hours to spare, there's a really nice outdoor space to sit and read a book!