An introduction to Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area on the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest city in the country with over 1.3 million residents. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world. The central part of the city occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water. Bridges span parts of both harbours, notably the Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour west of the Auckland CBD, which has popular swimming beaches at Mission Bay, Devonport, Takapuna, and surf spots such as Piha and Muriwai. Auckland is popularly known as the "City of Sails" because the harbour is often dotted with hundreds of yachts and has more per capita than any other city in the world, with around 135,000 yachts and launches; about one in three Auckland households owns a boat.

Newmarket and Parnell are up-market shopping areas, while Otara's and Avondale's fleamarkets offer a colourful alternative shopping experience. Many national treasures are displayed at the Auckland Art Gallery, while many other significant cultural artefacts reside at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology. Exotic creatures can be observed at the Auckland Zoo and Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World. Auckland Domain is one of the largest parks in the city, close to the CBD and has good views of the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto Island. Other tourist attractions and landmarks include the Auckland Town Hall, Aotea Square, the hub of downtown Auckland beside Queen Street, Eden Park stadium, the location of the 2011 Rugby World Cup final, Karangahape Road (also known as ‘K’ Road), a street in upper central Auckland famous for its bars, clubs, smaller shops and red-light district, and Mount Eden, a volcanic cone with a grassy crater, which is the highest natural point in the City.

Accommodation in Auckland’s university colleges and residences

Auckland has a some of the largest universities in the country, including the University of Auckland, AUT, Massey University, the Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec New Zealand. It should be understood that the university residences amd colleges are designed primarily for students and not children or adults expecting a high level of luxury. However, with this in mind, they do meet a level of comfort that we expect most visitors to be happy with, and we will welcome any feedback where this is not the case.

Getting around Auckland

Cars are the main form of transportation within Auckland, which results in substantial traffic congestion during peak times. Bus services in Auckland are mostly radial, with few ring-routes, due to Auckland being on an isthmus. Late-night services, ie. past midnight, are limited, even on weekends. Regular trains operating along four lines travel between the CBD and the west, south and south-east of Auckland, with longer-distance options being rather scarce. Auckland Airport, New Zealand's largest, is in the southern suburb of Mangere on the shores of the Manukau Harbour. There are frequent services to Australia, and to other New Zealand destinations.

A brief history of Auckland

The isthmus was settled by Maori around 1350 and was valued for its rich and fertile land. Many pa (fortified villages) were created, mainly on the volcanic peaks. Maori population in the area is estimated at about 20,000 people before the arrival of Europeans. The subsequent introduction of firearms, which began in Northland, upset the balance of power and led to devastating inter-tribal warfare, causing iwi, who lacked the new weapons, to seek refuge in areas less exposed to coastal raids. As a result, the region had relatively low numbers of Maori when European settlement of New Zealand began, but there is nothing to suggest that this was the result of a deliberate European policy.

After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, chose the area as his new capital, and named it after George Eden, Earl of Auckland, then Viceroy of India. The land that Auckland was established on was gifted to the Governor by local Maori iwi Ngati Whatua, as a sign of goodwill and in the hope that the building of a city would attract commercial and political opportunities for the iwi. Auckland was officially declared New Zealand's capital in 1841, however, even in 1840 Port Nicholson (later Wellington) was seen as a better choice for an administrative capital, because of its proximity to the South Island, and Wellington became the capital in 1865. In response to the ongoing rebellion by Hone Heke in the mid 1840s the government encouraged retired but fit British soldiers and their families to migrate to Auckland to form a defense line around the port settlement as garrison soldiers. By the time the first Fencibles arrived in 1848, the rebels in the north had been defeated, so the outlying defensive towns were constructed to the south stretching in a line from the port village of Onehunga in the West, to Howick in the east.