News and Views

Here’s what Auckland’s property developers don’t want you to know.  

The city is full of hidden shortcuts, rooftop gardens and viewing platforms which are required to be accessible to the public. In the past, property developers made public space concessions with Auckland Council in return for bonus floor space.  But very few records of these concessions have been kept and a lack of policing meant some developers were not meeting their end of the bargain.  Some of the publicly required walk ways and short cuts are not clearly signed meaning most Aucklanders are blind to their existence.

So at Aucky Walky we’ve snooped and scoped out what we believe are five little-known hidden gems - selected for their views or time-saving shortcuts, when walking from A to B.   

1. Most secret alleyway?  Cruise Lane - connecting Shortland Street with Chancery Plaza.  Who knew this little through-lane existed?  We didn’t and found it one day by happy accident.  It’s a narrow ‘suck-in-your-tummy’ passageway  which links Shortland Street to Chancery Street and the serene shopping Plaza beyond. It looks a bit dodgy even in daylight but once you’re in it, you realise it also connects with the O’Connell Street laneway and the lobby of a major office block.  Maybe one to avoid at night.

2. Best city views?  Rooftop Garden at 56 Wakefield Street.  Previously Oracle House, now home to AUT School of Tourism.  Just enter the lobby and take the lift to the 17th floor (Monday to Friday) for some of the best ‘free’ views of downtown Auckland.  It’s a great place to snooze, sunbake, have a picnic and take selfies. When we visited, we had the place to ourselves. Surprise and delight your mates or family next time you’re in town as it’s just up the hill from the Aotea Centre.

3. Best harbour views? The public viewing platform at the Hilton Hotel.  Yes that’s right. This five star international hotel agreed, as part of its planning consent,  to provide  public access to the end of the wharf.  So the Hilton built us lucky Aucklanders a public sundeck.  

4. Best uphill avoidance?  The Lumley Centre - from Fort Street to Shortland Street.No need to walk uphill from the flat terrain of Fort Street, especially if you’re enjoying a mega icecream from Giapo.  This is a huge time saver for university students and avoids a detour up a steep hill.  Also keeps you dry in the rain.  Nice one!

5. Best  art?  The lobby at the Vero Centre is required to be  open to the public as  the developer was granted “CBD Bonus space’ when building the property.  The lobby is decorated with artworks including a hugely impressive ‘living legends’ wall  that not many know about.  Just be mindful that no photography is allowed and the security, while polite, were quick to ask our intentions!  But you have every right to stand in the lobby and take in the creative surrounds.

So among the hustle and bustle of Auckland, there’s a wealth of hidden treasures that reside down the lane ways and on rooftops of our spectacular city.  Book a guided walking tour with Aucky Walky to find out more.  

K’ Road – the jewel in Auckland's crown?

Karangahape or K'Road – once a strategic ridge Maori traveled to cross from the Waitemata to Manukau Harbours -  will undergo a major transformation over next six years.

The street is named after the Tainui ancestor Hape, who  was left behind when the Tanui set out from Hawaiiki in search of new lands. Hape was excluded from the canoe due to his ‘clubfoot’ but legend has it he made the journey to Aotearoa, New Zealand on the back of a stingray, preceding the arrival of his tribe by several weeks. On their arrival they saw him standing on a hill (Karangahape Road) and he welcomed them with a Karanga, or greeting call, and the event became known as Te Karanga a Hape, meaning The Call of Hape.

The area has gone through many changes in its history – once a distant ridgeline to early settlers – which the horse-drawn trams would struggle to reach, to a busy retail strip of department stores, tea shops and photography studios in the 1960’s. The street’s fortunes changed in the 1970’s however with the advent of shiny new suburban shopping malls which meant dwindling visitors to the city.  With empty tenancies and an array of ‘mixed bag’ retailers, Karangahape Road then gained an illicit reputation as Auckland’s red light district with its jumble of clubs, strip joints and pubs.   

With the recent growth in apartment options, international students, and upbeat eateries the once seedy street has undergone a renaissance.  Today, Auckland’s grand old arcade Saint Kevin’s is fully tenanted and a showcase for what sympathetic and classy renovation can achieve. The people have returned to K’ Road (as the local’s fondly refer to it) and it’s now the vintage, retro and tattoo shopping capital of New Zealand – a vibrant and creative city hub in the inner city.

Key changes planned include a new train station, better links through Myers Park into the city, and the re-development of Beresford Square as the entrance to the future City Rail Link station. Native tree planting along Karangahape Road together with a new cycle path to link with the Grafton and Newton Gully cycle ways will all add to the locale.

The City Rail Link project will establish a new train station at the top of Beresford Square, near the Pitt Street and Karangahape Road junction. The new train station platform will be approximately 33 metres below ground.  The City Rail Link is due for completion in 2021 and will essentially extend the Western Line into Britomart doubling the capacity of people the system can carry.

The ‘Hello Auckland’ tour includes a walk down K’Road because it’s a historic and local spot that most visitors miss (and locals avoid)  - yet it really is the beating heart of uptown. Come see for yourself!

Reference: THE KARANGAHAPE ROAD PLAN 2014-2044  Waitemata Local Board

The answer harks back to a favour granted by one friend to another. 

While Maori first named the region Tamaki Makaurau (a place desired by many), New Zealand’s first Governor, William Hobson renamed the colonial city, Auckland in 1840, out of gratitude to his esteemed friend George Eden the Lord of Auckland (pictured). George had helped to revive Hobson’s flagging naval career.  

At the tender age of 10, Hobson was enlisted in the Royal Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant by the age of 22, coinciding with the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.  Hobson was then posted to the West Indies where he reached the rank of Captain, but was overlooked for subsequent promotions despite his ambition. Until Lord Auckland, the Governor General of India at the time, intervened and gave Hobson command of the HMS Rattlesnake and a new mission to scope out New Zealand. The mission’s goal was no walk in the park. Hobson was instructed to gauge the Maori position on a formal sovereignty agreement between the Crown and the country’s first people.

It was this mission and Hobson’s subsequent report which set him up for his next command.  To deliver a Treaty to New Zealand on behalf of Queen Victoria and gain the wholesale agreement of Maori Chiefs to English governance. With the goal achieved in February 1840, Hobson then formally established both the colony and the new government. 

But Hobson  never forgot his lucky break and who scratched his back. Following successful negotiations with the local tribe, Ngati Whatua, Waitamata Harbour was declared  the hub of the new capital so a name was hastily required  for the settlement.  Hobson not only named the city after his patron in September 1840 but bestowed Lord Auckland’s family name, Eden, to the soaring cone that graces the city’s skyline, Maungawhau-Mt Eden.  And of course, at a later date,  Eden Park, home of the mighty All Blacks was another famous landmark named after the career diplomat George Eden, Lord of Auckland.

Lord Auckland died in 1849, following what was described as a fit. He never set foot in his namesake Auckland city or married so the earldom became extinct on his death. The title of Auckland however remains an enduring link to New Zealand’s colonial past and a pact made between two intrepid mates.