Interesting to stroll through the Victoria Park Market…read more From 1905 to 1918 a series of brick buildings were constructed to...deal with the removal of rubbish in Auckland. At the turn of the century in the early 1900s, rubbish was moved by horses. Due to fears about the rats spreading the bubonic plague via the garbage, the Auckland city council approved an incinerator to be built to intentionally burn the city's rubbish. The power generator used coal initially, however steam generators were later added to keep up with the demand for rubbish removal. Now the Victoria Park Market is repurposed from the original waste depot and incinerator complex. Check out the Celebrity Walk which features prominent New Zealanders like Sir Edmund Hillary and other famous athletes, authors and politicians. An interesting slice of Auckland history.

The re-opening of this Auckland icon was heralded for the weekend of 15-16 November 2015. We went…read morealong for a nosey and had high expectations. Previous attempts at rejuvenating VPM have been pretty abysmal so this had to be better. All we can say is "ho hum". The design is nice except they have failed to allow for crowds of dawdling people. Bi-fold doors open out on to the walkways, restricting access for people, and large pot plants add to the already narrow access. The shops/stalls are not really anything new. There are still empty shop spaces. The stall holders were all looking desperately at the meandering crowds who had little use for their handmade wares. I predict that many will not return. There was not enough food for sale - we arrived at about lunchtime - and unbelievably the sushi shop had a practically empty cabinet and hungry people were walking in and out again. The remaining food outlets: a couple of cafes, were ill-equipped to cope, slow and struggling to serve the throngs of people! This, on the opening day of a market that had so much promise but seriously failed to deliver. Such a shame. Someone with a mobile coffee caravan could do a roaring trade down at VPM - coffee can soothe the savage breast and much can be forgiven when you have a good hot coffee fix in your hand! Good luck to them for the future - I really hope they succeed...

This is a great place to visit when you need to just be by the sea. You can drive right out onto…read morethe wharf and get up close to the water without having to get your feet wet or get sand everywhere. They're slowly doing it up so there's loads to look at around the wharf and sometimes there's even a beautiful Kokako coffee cart there! This means you can enjoy the sea even better while enjoying one of Auckland's top coffees. You can walk out onto the new wharf they've built and read heaps about the area, the history and plans for the future. Eventually they want to turn into it into a Wynyard Quarter like place so I'm really excited to see where this heads. It'd be awesome to have a whole lot of bars on the Shore! Go check it out if you have a chance.

Ferries run every :10 and it's a :15 ride for $12. We walked through the wharf and easily found…read morethe bus stop wait. This beautiful island feels more like. Cape Cod than Auckland. There is a very laid back relaxing vibe here, it feels like we are a world away from the bustling city of Auckland. We easily spent 6 hours here & could have stayed longer. Victoria Road is where the shops and restaurants are located . The architecture is Edwardian and Victorian, but I didn't think it looked particularly special. I found some locally made artistic greeting cards & enjoyed the charming gift shops. We stopping for dinner at the Patriot. There are 4 pristine beaches on Davenport. There are a local and also Torpedo Bay Navy Museums here. There are many charming shops, cafés, restaurants and friendly people.

We stayed in Devonport on the beach. It's a charming beach city, but it wasn't as cute as I…read moreexpected. It was not on my favorites list. We ate at several of the restaurants. All were good enough, but nothing was amazing. Mount Vic was the highlight of our stay here. This is definitely worth the lovely walk up.

I used to run to this wharf when I lived in the city, and it is one of my favourite places to enjoy…read morethe view of Auckland's CBD. If you can get to this place for a sunrise or sunset, it truly is a magical place to be. Whenever the stress of Auckland life is pissing you off, come here and all will be fixed (well until you have to leave and get back to reality). A lot of people fish off the end of this extremely long wharf, and while I have only ever caught one eel and a small shark off here, I think it has some potential. But even if you don't care much for fishing, just walk out to the end of the wharf for some fresh air and beautiful views.

Like so many Aucklanders I've seen the wharf heading out past that function centre that never seems…read moreto be doing very well but driven or walked on by. On my last big sweaty walk round the bays though we decided to walk out on it, really with nothing other in mind than adding to our total steps. Wow, who'd have thunk a wee wooden walkway could create such a fresh and gorgeous new perspective on our city? There's a lot of quiet fishing going on here and you have to pick your way around bait boxes and beer coolers but most people are really friendly which is such a nice surprise in Auckland. There's the obligatory bunch of kids bombing at the end which can't help but make me smile and you feel like you are right out in the water, halfway to Rangitoto. Beautiful. SO worth a wander.

Our hotel was a walking distance from the ferry terminal. Really nice to stroll around. We boarded…read morethe Fullers 360 to Waiheke Island. The information and ticket offices was just in front of the terminal. Very easy to find.

The Auckland Ferry Terminal is a beautiful Edwardian Baroque building. It was built in 1912. Its…read moredesign is similar to the San Francisco Ferry Building in California. The terminal connects Auckland with ferries going to the North Shore, West Auckland, South Auckland and the surrounding islands. It is centrally located at the end of Queen Street. It was the principal way to reach the North Shore until the Auckland Harbor Bridge was opened in 1959. Nice place to sit and enjoy the view on a sunny summer day in Auckland.

This is the train station in Newmarket. Besides catching trains here there isn't much else, but you…read morecan buy tickets and top up AT Hop cards here. For a train station it is pretty good, very clean too. Mostly I go here for the dairies, this is dairy central and with four available my Diet Coke and Jelly Belly's are never far away. The inner courtyard space is good for waiting around for people or trains and new benches have just been added too. There are a few other small businesses which surround the station including a Southern Maids which you almost miss because it is hidden in a corner. All their doughnuts are made here so if you're a doughnut fan this is where you can satisfy your inner Homer Simpson.

Newmarket is considered quite a fashionable suburb of Auckland and the renovations and upgrades of…read moreit's train station looked like it was going to keep to the theme. Unfortunately, the train station courtyard if full of uncoordinated council seating, almost as disjointed as it is impractical. The shops surrounding the courtyard have yet to be used to their full potential, although they have tried to use the vacant stores in an art exhibition. The train station itself has a help desk, which is rare for an Auckland train station, but oddly placed gates and only one ticket dispensing machine, in what is possibly busiest station after Britomart. At least they have a street washing machine in the courtyard on a Tuesday night.

Large clean well marked train station bar the ferries & port. Starbucks,a florist, mojo are…read moreinside. Lots of machines to refill our at hop transit card & staff that was a big help. This is the the public transport hub in the central business district. It opened in 2003 but was a post office from 1911. It combines a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive modernist architectural elements, and a bus interchange. It is at the foot of Queen Street, in the main commercial shopping, dining & transportation hub.

If you're getting around Auckland, you're probably going to go through Britomart Station. This is…read morethe central hub for all ground transportation in the area, and everything seems to stop through here. It's right across the street from the Ferry Landing, and there's lots of stores, restaurants, gift shops and things to see and do around here. When I went, the place was swarming with scooters! They were everywhere. Plus, the place was heavily under construction, with big scaffolding over the facade, and shipping containers set up to walk through so nothing falls on pedestrians. The exterior is nice looking, and everyone seems to know where this place is. They have kiosks set up to check your bus tickets without having to deal with a clerk.

This does not compare to Sydney, it actually looks more like the old railway bridge connecting…read moreQueens to Manhattan. They do have bridge climbs and jumps from here. Originally built in 1959, this long-standing bridge and city icon doubled its lanes from 4 to 8 and recently added pedestrian walkways as well as a special bridge-climbing adventure for most ages and abilities. There is an island underneath with views of the city & harbor.

One of my favourite places to drive and park at in the city is Westhaven, just under the cityside…read moreof the Harbour Bridge. It's a perfectly tranquil spot to sit and contemplate how Auckland isn't actually that bad when you find the pretty spots. A few months after I discovered this place, I used it as a location for a magazine I was working on at the time. It was a motoring themed issue and we had a classic car club come down during "the magic hour" and pose with their gorgeous vehicles and gorgeous smiles amongst gorgeous evening light. Bliss! Out of all the covers I've ever art directed, this was in my top five. Great lighting, great Harbour Bridge backdrop. Awesome.