Flashback Friday | Going For A Walk: Wynyard Quarter, Auckland, New Zealand

Flashback Friday takes place on the last Friday of the month. The idea is to give a little more love to a blog post you've published before that maybe didn't get enough attention, or is something you think is still relevant or even a something that you really love and want to share again.

Many thanks to Michael d’Agostino for starting Flashback Friday and inspiring me to go back and revisit some of our earlier blog posts.

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This is a flashback to when we lived in Auckland, New Zealand. We didn't have a car, so we walked everywhere. We lived in city centre (downtown) Auckland, so everything was convenient and we were a hop, skip, and a jump away from the waterfront.

When I looked back at this post, I noticed that I only used metric. Hard to believe that once upon a time, I functioned in kilometers, kilograms, and hectares.

This was originally published in December 2013 - you can see the original post here.

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Wynyard Quarter is one of the new hot spots in the Auckland waterfront area and is undergoing a 25-year urban transformation plan, the first part of which was completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup (which of course the All Blacks won). 

It sits on reclaimed land in the Waitemata Harbour and encompasses around 37 hectares of land and three kms of coastal frontage. There are all sorts of amenities for visitors to enjoy including a playground, public artwork, old siloes which have been jazzed up, a fish market and all sorts of cafes, restaurants and bars. 

You can see all types of vessels in Wynyard Quarter including fishing boats, the Great Barrier Island ferry, classic Kiwi yachts and mega yachts. Positioned between the Viaduct and Westhaven, it is nice area to have a stroll, visit and explore. 

 

The drawbridge from Te Wero Island in the Viaduct which you cross over to get to Wynyard Quarter.

View from under the pohutukawa trees back to the Viaduct and the drawbridge..

There is a lot of interesting street art scattered throughout Wynyard Quarter.

There's a fish market in Wynyard Quarter which is fun to explore. They sell good fish and chips there, but be warned if you want ketchup for your chips, it will cost you extra.



Yummy fish for sale. Although, I much prefer the ones that Skipper Scott catches for us.

One of the many fishing boats in the Wynyard Quarter.

They've repurposed old shipping containers throughout Wynyard Quarter.
You can get money out of the ATM at this one. There is a television screen on the other side showing videos.

At this one, you can buy some ice cream with the money you just took out of the ATM.

And you can even catch the bus from this shipping container.

  

At the end of Wynyard Quarter is Silo Park. It is full of siloes. The name kind of gives it away.

They've jazzed some of the old siloes up with colorful paintings.







Silo Park marina is where the mega-yachts berth. This ridiculous boat, the A, is owned by a Russian tycoon and worth $350 million. He has brought it into Auckland to be repainted. It is going to cost around NZ$30 million alone to repaint and take approx. 18 months.



These boats are much nicer.

 And the most important thing to know about the Wynyard Quarter is that they just opened a branch of Sal's Pizza there. This is the best proper American style pizza in Auckland. I think they import the cheese from Wisconsin. Getting a pizza from Sal's is a priority must-do for Scott this week now that he is back in New Zealand.

Have you ever been to New Zealand? Do you like to go for urban walks?

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