Wednesday 11 February 2026 – The internet is a great and good thing and even social media has its good side, despite what The Mainstream Media would have one believe. Having said in public (i.e. this blog and Facebook) that I wasn’t sure what we’d get up to today – our last day in Auckland – given that the city, whilst a pleasant place, hasn’t got a huge list of must-see items, I was deluged with suggestions. Well, a couple of friends piped up, anyway. Waiheke Island was one of the suggestions, and indeed we had considered this. It’s well known as a wine destination, and a decade ago, the words “ferret” and “trouser leg” would have sprung to mind. However, neither Jane nor I drink wine these days, so that isn’t a particular draw any more. There are all sorts of other exciting things to do there, like ziplining, but somehow these weren’t much of a draw either.  Another suggestion was the Tiritiri Matangi Island Nature Reserve, which had actually been on our original idea list until Jane spoke to them and they pointed out that it would be overrun with a conference and school trips today. We also had a recommendation for the Antarctic Adventure at Kelly Tarlton’s, but we’ve actually been to Antarctica, so weren’t sure how much we’d enjoy that. And among all this cogitation, Jane had discovered that there’s an area to the south of the city, based around Karangahape Road, which features street art, something we’re both interested in seeing.  So, that was what we decided we’d do.

However, despite eye-rolling from Jane, I insisted on adding another destination to our ambling around, because I’d been cleaning my teeth with a handraulic toothbrush for the last two days and really wasn’t happy about that, so wanted to find yet another store that might stock what I wanted. Pathetic, I know, but I really thought that finding a Sonicare toothbrush head for sale in a major city shouldn’t be a problem. It turns out that it is. Rather like my brother in search of a mobile phone SIM on one of his travels, I have been mildly obsessed with trying various establishments that might stock such a thing. Without success, as it turns out. So, reluctantly, after today’s abortive excursion to Warehouse Central, I capitulated to fate and bought a cheapo battery toothbrush that I hope will do a satisfactory job. En route there and back, we passed the former Auckland Civic Administration Building

which has now been developed into apartments, but which still has on its side the rather handsome Auckland coat of arms*

featuring Kiwis Rampant.

Our shopping done, we could head to Karangahape Road and start fossicking about looking for the various bits of street art on display.  Our route took us through Myers park, a pleasant and quiet green space

which has an attractive play area for the kiddies

and a statue of Moses for the grown-ups.

As we approached the exit of the park we came across the first piece of street art.

and soon emerged into an area where a lot of work had been done with a lot of spray cans.

The passageway shown in the last photo above was extravagantly decorated all the way up the steps

and led to an arcade, called St. Kevin’s Arcade. No, really. It even has it own website. It’s a colourful space

and debouches on to Karangahape Road, which, it quickly becomes clear, is a very hippy area.

We pottered up the road a bit and looked into the Symonds Street Cemetery, because Jane has a bit of a thing for cemeteries. It’s a substantial one, with, as one might hope, an air of calm about it.

The cemetery is split into various areas

with the Jewish section being the nearest to Karangahape Road.

There’s an installation in the nearby Pigeon Park

which is called Karangahape Rocks; I suppose you’d expect that a hippy area rocks, wouldn’t you?

We kept going for a bit, crossing over the motorway via a bridge so that we could see one picture that takes up the side of a building

and probably looked a lot more impressive before the trees grew up to obscure it. And then we were off on the trail along Karangahape Road and some side streets in search of various bits of art. We found quite a lot of it. And we also noticed some really rather attractive architecture as well. Auckland is a relatively junior city, having been founded only in 1840, and there have been waves of architectural styles sweeping across it in the last 20 years; many of them can be seen in this area.

So here are a couple of galleries, one of the art we saw and the other of the architecture, colonial, deco and modern, that is sprinkled around the place.

First, the art:

Then, the architecture.

Pretty much the final thing we saw was an advertisement as well as a piece of street art. The advertisement was for AT – Auckland Transport, and was a long mural.

As you can see, the mural is of a train, with a variety of fanciful passengers shown in the windows, with doors periodically along it. What marked it out was that two of the doors occasionally (and prompted by what, I don’t know) actually opened!

So, well done to AT for exploiting the zeitgeist of the area with imagination and humour.

It was a happy couple of hours wandering around seeking out and photographing these scenes. As well as the visual impact, we also, of course, experienced an area of the city that is radically different from the somewhat effete downtown and waterfront areas. The Karangahape Road is more scruffy, more raffish and more colourful, and it was very interesting to have walked around it. It was quite a ramble!

 

We relaxed for a short while back at our hotel before heading once more towards the waterfront in search of sustenance.  We found it in the shape of Dr. Rudi’s Rooftop Brewing Co. Booking was not possible but we managed to find a shady space on the terrace and we were allowed an hour there before a private function took over the space. Dr. Rudi’s offers a modern dining experience – QR codes to view menus, order and pay. The website was split into various sections: food, wine, cocktails, etc. And the cocktails section was, one might say, Rudi mentary – it had the glaring omission of a simple G&T. How modern is that, eh?  Jane was able to order her Hugo Spritz OK, but I had to go to the bar to ask for my arcane and, I might add, expensive specialty drink to be prepared, which took a while.  The food was good and tasty, but I can report that they have an odd idea of what shape a pizza should be and also of what actually constitutes chorizo. Nonetheless, we were well fed up and were able to exit gracefully just as they were about to clear the area, and tottered back to the hotel to begin our preparations to depart on the morrow.

Auckland has been a splendid introduction, to the country and to being back on the road. We’ve had a couple of days to work our way into the feel of the place and to get over our jet lag. Tomorrow, we pick up a hire car and head off into the wilds of the Coromandel Peninsula. Stay tuned to find out how that all went, won’t you?

* Auckland’s coat of arms was adopted in 1911. Its arms consist of a cornucopia (‘horn of plenty’), reflecting the wealth of the land; a pick and shovel, symbols of mining in the region; and a sailing ship, showing the city’s close relationship with the sea. The closed visor in the crest represents Auckland City’s status as a corporation and the flowering plant is native flax. The supporters are kiwis (the national bird), and the motto is ‘Advance’.  https://teara.govt.nz/en