Attractions in Auckland

Alberton
100 Mt. Albert Rd., Mt. Albert
09/846-7367 Fax 09/846-1919.
Wed-Sun 10:30am-noon, 1-4pm
Admission charged.
This is perhaps the finest of all Auckland's historic homes open to the public. This once simple farmhouse built in 1863 grew into the magnificent mansion that stands today. Owned by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, it provides an intimate glimpse into Victorian life.

Auckland Art Gallery
Wellesley and Kitchener Streets
09/307-7700 Fax 09/302-1096.
Daily 10am-5pm both galleries
Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday
Admission to main gallery free; fees for some touring shows.
New Gallery
09/307-4540.
Admission charged; children under 12 free.
Recognized as the leading New Zealand art gallery, Auckland City Art Gallery and the New Gallery hold over 10,000 New Zealand and European artworks. The Main gallery emphasizes historical collections with guided tours at 2pm daily, while the New Gallery, opened across the street in 1995, houses an extensive contemporary collection of new ideas, new works, and new artists.

Auckland Museum Te Papa Whakahiku
Auckland Domain
09/309-0443; 09/306-7067
Daily 10am-5pm Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday
Bus 635 from Downtown Bus Terminal; Explorer Bus stops every 30 min. past the hour at museum door; Link Bus every 10 min. weekdays, every 20 min. weekends with a 5-min. walk from its Parnell Rd. stop to museum.
Admission Permanent Collection by donation

Maori Concert and Discovery Center
Admission charged.
Auckland's imposing museum building stands in the Auckland Domain on the rim of an ancient volcano surrounded by parks and gardens. This Greek Revival-style museum is known for its Maori artifacts, the largest collection of its kind, including Portraits of Maori chiefs by C. F. Goldie. Other exhibits in the museum are dedicated to natural history, geology, and local history, including a reconstructed streetscape of early Auckland.

Maori Treasures Gallery has a new look. Key attractions in this area are the impressive 82-foot war canoe chiseled from one enormous totara trunk and covered with intricate, symbolic carvings. That same artistry is reflected in the 85-foot meetinghouse with its carved and painted walls and rafters, also greenstone weapons, tools, and feather cloaks.
Twice daily at 11am and 1:30pm, Maori concerts by the world-traveled Pounamu Maori Performance Group bring this history and culture to life.

Auckland Zoo
By car, take Karangahape Road (which turns into Great North Road west out of the city), past Western Springs. Take a right onto Motions Road.
Motions Rd., Western Springs,
09/360-3805; 09/360-3819
Daily 9:30am-5:30pm (last admission 4:15pm Closed Christmas Day
Explorer Bus. Free parking
Admission charged. children 5-15; under 5 free; family tickets.
Sumatran tigers snarl, lions roar, and monkeys chatter. Over 900 birds and animals from every continent make their home in this outstanding parkland, recognized as one of Australasia's leading zoos with an international reputation for its animal management programs. Visit the McDonald's South American Rainforest, where troops of spider monkeys, bonnet macaques, squirrel monkeys, and siamangs swing from branch to branch. Discover New Zealand's unique wildlife, including the kiwi and tuatara, or check out Pridelands for giraffe, zebra, lions, and rhino. And visit the zoo's two most famous residents, Kashin and Burma, in their state-of-the-art elephant house. Children will also love the Adventure Playland, which features fun educational activities.

Albert Park
Wellesley St. W, Kitchener St., Waterloo Quad
These 15 acres of formal gardens, fountains, and statue-studded lawns are a favorite for Aucklanders who pour out of nearby office blocks and the university and polytechnic to eat lunch on sunny days. The park is built on the site of a garrison from the 1840s and 1850s that was used to protect settlers in their conflicts Maori tribes. There are still remnants of its stone walls (with rifle slits) behind university buildings on the east side of the park.

Beaches. Auckland's beaches are commonly categorized by area : east, west, or north. The ones closest to the city are the east coast beaches along Tamaki Drive on the south side of the harbor, which do not have heavy surf. Of these, Judge's Bay and Mission Bay are especially popular. The most visited is Piha, 25 mi west of Auckland. Whatipu, south of Piha, is a broad sweep of sand offering safe bathing behind the sandbar that guards Manukau Harbour. Bethells, to the north, is beautiful, but often has heavy surf.

Cathedral Church Of St. Mary
Holy Trinity. Parnell Rd. and St. Stephen's Ave
Daily 8-6.
A Gothic Revival-style wooden church. Built in 1886, it's one of a number of churches commissioned by the early Anglican missionary Bishop Selwyn. The craftsmanship inside the church is remarkable. St. Mary's originally stood on the other side of Parnell Road, and in 1982 the entire structure was moved across the street to be next to the new church.

Ewelme Cottage
14 Ayr St., Parnell
09/379-0202
Wed-Sun 10:30am-noon, 1-4:30pm Explorer Bus to Parnell Village
Admission charged.
This house was built for the Rev. Vicesimus Lush and named for Ewelme Village in England. The roomy kauri cottage is authentically preserved down to its 19th century wallpaper.

Highwic
40 Gillies Ave., Epsom
09/524-5729
Fax 09/524-5575.
Wed-Sun 10:30am-noon, 1-4pm
Admission charged.
Highwic is one of New Zealand's finest Gothic Revival houses. Built in 1862 from an American pattern book, its distinctive architecture and large gardens offer a glimpse into the lives of a large, wealthy Victorian family.

Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World
23 Tamaki Dr., Orakei Wharf
09/528-0603 Fax 09/528-5175.
Daily summer (Nov 1-Mar 31 9am-9pm; winter (Apr 1-Oct 31 9am-6pm. Christmas Day 10am-5pm.
Take Mission Bay city bus, Explorer Bus, or Fuller's Harbour Explorer.
Free parking.
Admission charged. free for children under 4. Special rates for families and seniors
The creation of New Zealand's most celebrated undersea explorer and treasure hunter, this harbor side marine park offers a unique view of the sea. A submerged transparent tunnel, 120 yards long, makes a circuit past moray eels, lobsters, sharks, and stingrays. In Antarctic Encounter, you enter a replica of explorer Robert Falcon Scott's 1911 Antarctic hut at McMurdo Sound, then circle around a deep-freeze environment aboard a heated Sno-Cat (snowmobile) that winds through a penguin colony and an aquarium exhibiting marine life of the polar sea. You emerge at Scott Base 2000 for a glimpse of this century's anticipated Antarctic research and exploration.

Museum of Transport Technology and Social History
825 Great North Rd., Western Springs
09/846-0199
Fax 09/846-4242.
Daily 10am-5pm Closed Christmas Day
Bus 045 from Customs St. E.; Explorer Bus
Admission charged.
MOTAT is the largest museum of transport and technology in the country, covering 40 acres between its two closely linked sites in Western Springs, just 3 miles from the city center. You'll find trams, trains, steam engines, aircraft, and more. The Museum houses major collections of road transport, early Auckland historical buildings, primary industry, and medical and dental equipment displays. Once that's explored, you can take a working tram ride (every 20 min. from the Great North Road entrance past the zoo to the aviation displays at the Sir Keith Park Memorial site (small charge). Displays here include interesting military exhibits, rail memorabilia, and one of the most impressive collections of historical aircraft in Australasia, including the only Solent Mark IV flying boat in the world.