Day 48: Auckland New Zealand

Another fantastic day in NZ. Auckland is the largest city in NZ, with a population of about 1.5m. That means 30% of the country’s total population. The city is built on top of 52 volcanoes, dating back some 200,000 years - which are now dormant.  The last one blew up about 600 years ago, creating the offshore island of Rangitoto. There are still a few crater remnants in and around the city, but most have been flattened and now have commercial and residential buildings on top. Imagine the real estate listings for that. The Auckland Volcanic Field is considered a rare monogenetic volcanic field, with each volcano erupting only once, usually over weeks to years before cessation of activity. So, there is a possibility that another NEW volcano will go boom at any time.

The climate is defined as subtropical, so the yearly average temperature is
60F/15C. It reaches 82F/28C in summer (Jan/Feb) and drops to 35F/2C in June. Snowfall is extremely rare: the most significant fall since the start of the 20th century was on 27 July 1939, when snow fell just before dawn, and five centimeters (2 in) of snow reportedly lay on Mount Eden. Snowflakes were also seen on 28 July 1930 and 15 August 2011. Here is a final fun geo fact about Auckland. Many people think NZ is way further south than it is - like getting close to Antarctica. Not so! If Auckland was in the Northern Hemisphere, it would be at the same latitude as Las Vegas (actually the Hoover Dam) or the Straits of Gibraltar. It's at 34 degrees. To put that in perspective, our home in Philadelphia is 40 degrees North, about 420 miles further in comparison. 


Today, we separated to get different views of the city and its surroundings. Allison checked out the Maritime Museum (boring) and sailed around the harbor in an old-fashioned sailboat - far more exciting. I journeyed west to Titirangi, then onto Arataki Park for a nature hike. Before checking out the beach, the final stop was a cafe in Piha on the Tasman Coast for a flat white and cake. Highlights of the trip were magnetic sand and meeting a Michelin chef! Aratangi wasn't as interesting as the Bay Of Islands hike, and I didn't learn much there.

Piha was fascinating. Apart from the delicious cake (ginger savory) and coffee, I spoke with a former Michelin chef. He got tired of the rat race and moved to Piha. Then a restaurant came up for sale, he bought it, opened it just for the season .. and it is (of course) a massive commercial success. The beach is massive - part of it is where the opening scenes of The Piano were filmed (think Anna Paquin). The sand is a red-brown-black combo but is distinctly magnetic. There is a massive amount of iron that gets washed down from volcanic areas a bit further north. The beach is also separated by the Lions Head Rock. One side is a surfing school, and the other is a long beach. Truly beautiful.

Tomorrow, we visit Tauranga - known locally as a surfers paradise and the site of the first Maori landing in the 1200s. Stay tuned.

Random photos below:


1/ Bacon Butties - you gotta be a Brit to relate to this.

2/ One of the guardians of the Arataki Park

3/ Bushman's friend - us this as toilet paper. You can also write notes on the back of the leaf as its white.

4/ Maori Poem. I liked this.

5/ The cafe .

6/ Lion Head Rock








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