City of Sails
City of Sails
That’s where I live. Auckland. A place with a boring name, but it’s anything but dull. It has more coastline than any other city in the world, assisted by its two large harbours and location on a narrow tongue of land between broader swathes. So that means, yep, you guessed it—a LOT of beaches. There are twenty to thirty different ones within easy reach at any time.
On fine days the Waitemata Harbour is chocka with boats of all sizes taking best advantage of the weather, which often changes several times in one day. Right now we’re enjoying a wonderful summer, though sometimes it gets a bit too much when the humidity gets up near 100%. We have to watch out for the sun—it’s brighter and stronger than in other countries because of our ozone hole—you can get burnt even in the shade.
There are about 50 dormant volcanoes scattered across the suburbs of Auckland and as islands a little way out in the Hauraki Gulf. Climbing one will open up the view to the others, seen as smallish round hills poking up here and there. Some volcanoes resulted in lakes rather than hills, too.
Aucklanders get a really hard time from the rest of the country, passed off as metropolitan snobs. Sadly it’s true that some folks rarely go out of town, get lost the moment they pass the Bombay Hills to the south. But most enjoy a good trip away just like anyone else.
Getting around most often will have to involve a car unless you have a lot of time to spend. Yes, there are buses, and two train lines, but both are notoriously sparse. Cyclists have to share the road with cars and so take their lives in their hands, as well as having to puff up frequent hills. But they’re rewarded by being able to take the ferries across the harbour and go on their merry way without delay
There is one main bridge across the Waitemata, arcing long and high to allow freighters to pass through to the sugar factory. You can bungee jump off it if you’ve got the guts. As for me, it takes guts just to drive over the thing in those narrow lanes with the wind buffeting the car all the way. For passengers it gives a wonderful view to the central city.
Many tourists land at Auckland airport and vanish immediately into the back country. Now that’s well and good, but I’m of the opinion that they’re missing a whole lot if they don’t take at least a few days to look around our sparkling beaches and sleeping volcanoes.
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At a glance
City of Sails
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