# Svartmetall tours New Zealand - Dec 2013 to Jan 2014



## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

This was a bit of a "homecoming" for me returning back to where I lived for 7 years of my life. My family still lives in Auckland, and my wife's family came over from Beijing to join us for Christmas in New Zealand and to enjoy the summer weather that we were sure to be blessed with. We toured the North Island of the country all the way from Northland to Wellington and back, so this photo thread will cover a good swathe of the country. We didn't do the South Island in this trip, though if anyone is interested I have photos from Dunedin back in 2011! 

So without further ado, here are my first few days in Auckland. 

Just to get started, we started driving towards Mission Bay from Eastern Auckland. 

Travelling from the South Eastern Highway to the Southern Motorway. I was driving, so my wife took the photos. 


This is the view I had almost every day when I commuted to University in the centre of Auckland. The Southern Motorway. 


Views of greenery across one of the most exclusive suburbs in Auckland where all the old money lives - Remuera!


Beautiful, blue waters. 


Mission Bay is popular for a reason. 




Shame about it being a bit car-centric. The bike lane is very poor unfortunately. 


Bridge to the beach. 


Pohutakawa trees - very pretty and quite unique to this part of the world. They're known as the Christmas tree of New Zealand as they flower at this time of year. 


Across the grassy park near the beach. 


Beachfront. 


So here is the start of my tour. Lots more to come!


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## Nick.Yeah (Dec 7, 2006)

Nice pictures, keep them coming!


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Thanks mate! Here's the next lot.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Okay, time to continue with the next set! This lot are from Ponsonby in the western inner city (about 1km from the centre). A quirky and now rather expensive area that was previously considered undesirable. Now full of artists and food offerings that are, frankly, excellent. 

So without further ado, I'll show you some pictures. 

Firstly, your standard "villa road" in Auckland. 











Standalone building that stood out rather a lot. I like the design. 



People on Ponsonby Road. 



The main street with eating establishments and bars lining it. 



Quirky bar. 


Intersection.




View to the city centre. 



Some older buildings in the area. 



And not so old...



An excellent restaurant/cafe called "Little Bird" in Ponsonby. This place specialises in "raw food", so basically serves only uncooked food (except for the dish I had actually that had a cooked dosa). 



The food! I had a cooked buckwheat dosa with vegetables and home made curry sauce. 


Sister had the tacos with couscous and home made guacamole. 


Mum had the raw thai salad with home made fermented chilli sauce. This was the best dish of them all actually. 



View down the street.



Looking out to the mountains in the west. 



Back to Ponsonby Road. 



Very impressive church here. 



Managed to sneak inside and take some photos. 





Converted industrial buildings. 



Pristine example of a typical inner city Auckland villa. 



That's it for this set. Next set is in Western Springs, a large park in the inner west of Auckland. 

BONUS SHOT: One of my cats that I left behind in New Zealand with my family felt festive. :lol:


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

So here we are, the next set starting at Western Springs Park in inner-west Auckland. 

Firstly, an ex-Melbourne tourist tram on the loop around the Transport Museum (MOTAT). Close to here is Auckland zoo as well - a really nice zoo (though I didn't visit this time). 

The tram.





Pathway up to the park. 



Black Swan. 



And ducks! 



Little lake in the park. 



Pukeko and its baby! 



Common Seagull I think. 



Back across the lake. 



Pukeko on its nest. 



Bridge over a stream. 



Just in case you were getting peckish. 



More of the lake. 



Coot. 



Lilly pond. 



Final shot of the lake before we leave. 



Next set are from two shopping centres in Auckland (and one of the biggest in New Zealand) - Sylvia Park (biggest) and Botany Town Centre.


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## ikops (Jun 12, 2008)

Those black swans I do remember from my last trip to New Zealand.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Yeah, they are all over the place, but are particularly evident in this park. The next set focuses more on the built environment, though. I know that's what most people here find most interesting.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

A shorter update here showcasing a couple of Auckland's suburban malls. I drove everyone to one of my favourite malls in Auckland on the way back from Western Springs Park called Sylvia Park. 

Just in case we forgot that it was Christmas due to all the sunshine and summer wear, here is a Christmas display at Sylvia Park. 



Central area. 









The "indoor-outdoor flow" that Sylvia Park is well known for. It tries to replicate an outdoor shopping experience in this second section. This section is actually underneath the South Eastern Highway.



Sylvia Park is one of the only malls with a high quality transit corridor - it has its own train station on the Auckland suburban network, and this central section actually has an electronic timetable here. 



Christmas tree in the central atrium. 



This central section is quite nice in good weather. 





The third section to the mall - here we see the second interior section. 



Looking back to the atrium. 



Now we go onwards to Botany Town Centre. This shopping centre is located in the most car-centric district of Auckland - East Auckland (where I used to live actually). It's a nice town centre. 



Greenery. 



Supermarket as part of the shopping centre. 



Opera singer with a Ukulele singing Christmas carols. When in Rome! 



That's it for now. Next trip is a trip (by public transport actually) to the city centre.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Looks very good, very nice :cheers:


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ Thanks, Christos!


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

So here we go, next set of photos of our trip towards the city centre. We start proceedings in the suburb of Ellerslie, which is where my sister lives. This suburb is a middle-class "inner" suburb to the south east of Auckland CBD. 

View down my sisters driveway. 



View down the street. 



Little suburban park at the end of her street - great for playing rugby. 



Walking along to Ellerslie centre. 



Some flowers in peoples gardens. 







Rather large road intersection at Ellerslie centre. 



Ellerslie Domain (park). 



Town Square. 



Main street. 



Food at the cafe that we stopped at for breakfast!

Eggs, bacon and mushrooms.



Poached egg on field mushrooms. 



Eggs benedict. 



Bacon and caramelised onion roll. 



Back on the main street. 



Ellerslie pub. 



Heading to the train station. 



Ellerslie station.



Turned out we had 30 minutes until the next train to central Auckland, so we went for a walk on the other side of the station, but I'll wait until next time so show you that lot.


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## skymantle (Jul 17, 2010)

Nice showcase. Ponsonby is rather fashionable and affluent I've heard?


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

It's eclectic and arty. House prices have zoomed to astronomical heights as Auckland has embraced its inner city again. It used to be (much like Parnell the sister suburb on the eastern side of the city centre) a slum-like area. Now it's very elite, but still quirky. Gentrification has definitely taken hold of the area yielding the results one sees in the picture of that pristinely maintained villa at the end of the Ponsonby photo set.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Here we go with the next set of pictures then. 

Here we have the view from Ellerslie Train station. You can see the Southern Motorway. 



View of Ellerslie to the west of the station while we waited for the train to arrive. 



A primary school. My sister went for dance classes here previously. 



Typical street. 



Entrance to the train station. 



These are a big improvement here - electronic signs for the next train! Much better than having to read the timetable. 



The rail network of Auckland (taken on the train). 



View from the train to the Skytower. 



Britomart train station. Not long after this the diesel trains were being phased out. Will be great to see this underground station not have diesel locomotives here any more. 





Scary looking locomotive hauling the train. 



The far exit to the station into a newly developed shopping area. 





This area has improved a LOT since I moved to Auckland back in 2005. It used to be nothing but car parks. Now, it looks kinda cool. 















Entrance to Britomart Transit Centre (train station basically). 





The old part of the station (used to be the General Post Office or GPO). 



Timetables. 



That's it for this set. We explore the city centre in the next set.


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## alitezar (Mar 10, 2006)

Thanks for the great tour


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

alitezar said:


> Thanks for the great tour


Thank you! More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Next page.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Photo overload here.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Hope people are looking at these.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Neeeeeext!


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Continuing on down into Parnell we come to the old church made completely out of Kauri wood. It is next to a much uglier more modern Cathedral that I did not photograph (it really is that ugly). 



Relaxing. 



The light was getting a bit difficult, but you can see how a load of older houses have been converted to businesses. Really nice chocolate shop here. 





Flowers over the road. I believe these are Jacarandas imported from South Africa. 



On the bus. 



Very Kiwi motif on the seats. 



The older link bus. 



In the suburb of Newmarket - the "second CBD", or at least as far as shopping goes it is!





Newmarket train station. 



New development next to the station. 



Nuffield Street is a privately owned street that was bought by the Australian mall giants, Westfield. They own and maintain the street and control all buildings along the street. Some nice bars/restaurants down here. 



Broadway, the main street of Newmarket. 





A high street chain store for clothing, but at least the exterior looks interesting! 





A last shot of Broadway. 



A sculpture to end our trip around the city for now. 



Next up are some shots of the Auckland Botanical Gardens in the south of the city.


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## ukiyo (Aug 5, 2008)

Great thread


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Thank you, Ukiyo! Hope you enjoy the rest of the pictures that are coming up.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Change of plan with the order of posting now. Decided to show off a bit of the north of Auckland with the little village of Matakana. This village is famous for its market and food, plus some weird looking arty toilets near the car park!

We start in that said car park. 



Not a bad view for a car park. 



Walking towards the village. 



The "main street". 



At the markets. 





Some of the food stalls. 



Mmm, food. 



Down by the river front. 



The village is not that nice looking overall, but the setting is stunning. 



The river. 





More urban shots of the village. 





The infamous toilets. 





Main road north. 



Final shot of the village. 



NZ police. 



Duck!



Aaaaaand many ducks. Had to chase them out of the way of the car!



Final shot of the river. 



We head a bit further north next to another beauty spot.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Up north at Omaha Beach. 







Interesting looking wildlife. 



Slightly arty shot. 



Pathway along the beach. 





The staple of Kiwi towns/cities - The Warehouse (where everyone gets a bargain). 



Country town main street. 



Driving back to Auckland. 



Motorways and sprawl. 



Traffic was picking up the closer we got. 



Starting to see the skyline. 



Near the harbour bridge. 



Auckland skyline. 



The infamous harbour bridge. 







View of the sky tower. 



Approaching the central motorway junction. 



It cuts through the city rather...



The building you see at the top is Auckland Grammar School - one of the top boys schools in New Zealand. 



A nice volcanic cone in the centre of Auckland to finish off the picture. This is one of many that dot the cityscape. 



Next up - more shots from the Botanical Gardens.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Another update for you all. This time from the Botanical Gardens to the south of the city centre. 

The entrance to the visitor centre. 



Sculpture at the car park. 



Gigantic ants! 



Pohutakawa trees. 



Very regimented plantings. 



DNA?



Water feature. 



Duck pond. 







More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

This next set of photos is a bit special for me. It is where my wife and I had our wedding photos taken all those years ago. 

So here we go, entering the rose garden. 



White roses. 





Here we are, exactly where my wife and I posed. 



Close ups. 







On our wedding day, we also had photos taken from this bridge. 



Bee!



Arty benches. 



More random sculptures. 



Another site of wedding photos. 



Cacti. 



The large pond in the centre of the park. 



Back at the visitor centre. 



More urban Auckland coming up in the next lot.


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## musiccity (Jan 5, 2011)

Why did you and your family move to New Zealand?


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

That's a long story. I can PM you if you're really interested.


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## musiccity (Jan 5, 2011)

Svartmetall said:


> That's a long story. I can PM you if you're really interested.


Yeah I'd like to know!


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Another tour of the CBD. 

Walking from Arnie Road in Remuera down Remuera Road. Remuera is an inner suburb of Auckland within walking distance of the city centre. 

So here we go, Remuera road looking towards Newmarket. 



School. 



This is a very pretty white wooden church. Wooden churches are quite unique to me, you don't see them in many countries (I think Scandinavia is another place you see quite a lot of them). 



Down the road to Newmarket. 



Interesting juxtaposition of old and new. 



Crossing the road close to Newmarket. 



Power lines and sea views. 



Onto broadway in Newmarket. 



Plenty of shops here. This is the second shopping district in the centre of Auckland. 





Fairly empty it seems, though. Never see many people here...





277 Shopping Centre. Used to be an independent shopping mall, but was unfortunately bought by Westfield...



And the interior of the shopping centre. 



So there we go! Next set are more Newmarket.


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## danmartin1985 (Mar 5, 2012)

nice photos...NZ is a beautiful country indeed.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Been a while since I updated this, so here's another lot for you guys that still actually bother with my threads. 

This is a rather ethnic enclave for Chinese people in Auckland. It's a weird drive-through food court/supermarket area in the centre of Newmarket in Auckland. 



Teed Street (the back streets of Newmarket). 





Walking back down Newmarket. 



Broadway (main street). 





Some green in Newmarket. 



That's it for this lot. More to come later.


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## Nikkodemo (Aug 23, 2006)

I love New Zealand, I see it's a nice and peaceful place.


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Very nice!


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## stadsfreak (Jul 11, 2013)

Love your NZ tour.Thank you for sharing


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Continuing the tour of Newmarket in inner city Auckland. 

This is Nuffield Street. It used to be a normal street, but now it is owned and managed by Westfield - a shopping mall company. 



Newmarket train station entrance. Fancy entrance, not so great service back then. Might have improved now they have electric trains. 



Mixture of housing up Remuera Road (heading towards one of the most affluent suburbs in Auckland). 

Fancy housing. 



Not so fancy housing. 



View up the road. 



Cool church. 



Mosaic on the side of older apartments. 



Looking towards one of the volcanic cones that dot Auckland. 



Another pretty amazing church. 



Wide roads near one of Auckland's most prestigious roads. 



That's it for this update. Next up are views from One Tree Hill.


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## rdw3rd (Jun 12, 2007)

Nice thread. You spent most of your time in the Aukland region, the north of the North Island ?? Love to see any photos you took if you had the opportunity to travel outside of that area. I spent a few months working out of Bluff on the South Island. Wish I'd had a digital camera at the time. Most of what I got on film was from wandering around Bluff looking at the homes there. When I finished work I rented a car and drove around the Bluff/Invercargill region, then turned that in, sent my bags north by plane and hitchhiked to Aukland, not a real long distance in miles but about four days in landscape. Then spent a week in Aukland and thoroughly enjoyed that. 

Regards....Rob


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ I lived in New Zealand for 7 years so I toured the country quite a bit. I have other photos of the North Island and Wellington to come from this last trip too. 

I've just been lazy about putting them up. But I will start again!


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Next page...


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Funky architecture at the courthouse. 








The cutely named "Bunny Street" with an icon of Kiwiana - Buzzy Bee. This child's toy was even played with by the young Princes (William/Harry). 






University of Victoria buildings. 






Bus station. 






Walking up towards Parliament again. See the shelter at the traffic light? It's for pedestrians to shelter from Wellington's notorious wind and rain!






But first looking back to the Law School. 






Parliament Gardens. 














NZ Parliament - the Beehive. 






The old parliament - a much nicer building in my opinion. 






More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Parliament house next to the old buildings. 










The old and new juxtaposed. 






A very black building! 






National library of New Zealand. A brutalist masterpiece. 







Wellington Cathedral of St Pauls. Unfortunately we could not go inside. 










More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Brutalism specially for NZ Post. 






Walking down a very interesting street architecturally. 






On one side you see houses that would be very comfortable in the UK.






On the other, you have quite a San Fran vibe going. 






Here we are at Old St. Paul's. 









More brutalism in the form of the New Zealand archives. 






Here we are at the main bus terminal outside Wellington railway station. 















The bus terminal is linked to Wellington railway station. This is a smart set up that Auckland missed out on a bit with Britomart unfortunately. 








Here we are in the station. 










The Wellington rail system. 







Platform entrances. 








Facts and figures of the system here. 







The roof at the main entrance. 







Floor details at the entrance. 







Main entrance. 







More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Here we are, outside Wellington Railway station. 






Looking back to the station building. There is also a statue of M. Gandhi outside the station too. 








Time to walk back towards the city centre. 






Past the courthouse, a very impressive building indeed. 










Getting closer to the city now. 







Some beautiful architecture here. 












Near the shopping street. 







More to come.


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## apinamies (Sep 1, 2010)

Wellington doesn't look hilly in your photos.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ That's because this is the city basin. You'll see later on when I go up to the Botanical Gardens just how hilly it is. The central area is actually not so hilly, which is quite nice actually.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

More random sculptures and artwork in Wellington. 








Beautiful little square. 






Arty side street. 






Window displays for Christmas. 







Approaching the shopping district now. 








Don't need to go to China for Chinese music. 






Wellington has a lot of handy tourist signs like this. 






Historic buildings line up with modern. 







More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Continuing through the centre of the city. 

Down the shopping street. 






Beautiful architecture. 








Victorian shopping arcades. 








Inner courtyard. 






Back on the main street. 













The old bank building converted into a shopping centre. 






Almost heading up to the Botanical Gardens now. Coming up next.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Up next - general shopping scenes from Wellington. 










Typical NZ young girls/womens fashion.






St Pierres Sushi is awesome. 







Time to head to the Wellington Cable Car! 








Halfway up the route.






We made it! 








The view is pretty incredible. Now you see how hilly Wellington is. 








More views to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

More views across the city. 











The true postcard shot!








The cable car. 







Time to start clambering around the hills of the botanical gardens. 










Observatory. 








And military outpost.






View to the beaches. 






Off we go through the greenery. 






More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

The walkways through the gardens are so green. 










You really feel like you are high up here. 






Little grottoes. 







One of the many noisy cicadas that make their presence felt in summer. 






Continuing on we encounter some flowers. 






















More to come.


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## diddyD (May 12, 2014)

They are very professional pics - amazing.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Thank you! I would say I am very far away from being a professional, but as long as you guys are enjoying the photos, that's the main thing.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Desert plants. 








Interspersed with the greenery. 







I love this bench. 






NZ Plant Species that are endangered by introduced plant species. 









Continuing through blankets of green. 













A little rock garden. 






More to come, we're getting close to the end now.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Continuing through the Botanical Gardens we encounter more flowers. 







Open, more cultivated gardens (and bandstand). 








Cultured flowers. 
















The Chinese embassy hides outside this entrance to the Botanicals. 






Entrance gates. 






More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

We climbed back up through the botanical gardens back towards the cable car. 









Interesting sculpture. 







Back up at the cable car station, we waited for the train to arrive. 






Heading down at the front of the cable car. 








Back up. 







Outside the station and back on one of the main street (The Terrace). 










More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

We started to walk down from Lambton Quay towards Cuba Street, but we decided to swing by the Wellington City Libraries en route. 








The libraries are impressive. 







Almost at Cuba Street now. 








A bench made out of skateboards!







Here we are, Cuba Street mall!










Interesting water feature. 









More to come.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Time.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

For next.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Back streets off Cuba street.






Cool little Japanese shop. 







Back to the main street at Cuba. 






Time to leave the main street and walk back towards our hotel. 










The thing about Wellington is that it has eclectic architecture. 







And here is a perfect example of urban shopping below apartments. 






Back on Cambridge Terrace. 







Courtney Place. 









Walking up the street at Marjoribanks St. Perfect example of Wellingtonian housing. 





More to come.


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