Eight Jewels of Auckland

Auckland is one of the most desirable to cities to live in the world. The standard of living and quality of life is amongst the top five in the world. Auckland wears a crown filled with in valuable gems. It’s a crown filled with jewels. Below I have picked what I believe are the top eight jewels embedded in Aucklands crown. I believe you have already read about the eight wonders of Auckland. If not please do so.

Auckland Motorway

The Auckland Motorway or the life blood of Aucklanders connects people and places when in need whenever needed. If you live in Auckland then you must’ve been part of the mad hour traffic jam on this motorway. You just cannot avoid it. Aucklanders love their motorway.

The Auckland Northern Motorway (known locally as the Northern Motorway, and historically known as the Auckland–Waiwera Motorway) is a major motorway in the Auckland Region of New Zealand, linking central Auckland City and Puhoi in the Rodney District, via the Hibiscus Coast and North Shore. The motorway forms part of State Highway 1.

The Northern Motorway is 38 kilometres (24 mi) in length, with 15 junctions including termini. Until the end of the 1980s, the Northern Motorway was largely associated with the Auckland Harbour Bridge as a connection between central Auckland and the North Shore, but since 1994, has been extended to Puhoi to become the primary motorway route between the Auckland urban area, the Hibiscus Coast satellite towns, the northern Rodney District, and further afield to Northland. Between the 1959 opening of the motorway and 1984, tolls were collected on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and since 2009, tolls have been collected on the Northern Gateway Toll Road, the northernmost section of the motorway, bypassing the Hibiscus Coast.

The Northern Motorway sees heavy traffic: the section between Esmonde Road and Cook Street has an annual average daily traffic (AADT) count of over 100,000 vehicles per day, with around 155,000 vehicles per day crossing the Harbour Bridge.

The Northern Motorway starts near Puhoi, in the central-eastern Rodney District. The motorway leaves the two-lane coastal road between Puhoi and Waiwera on the northern side of Johnstone's Hill, then tunnels under the aforementioned hill in 340-metre long twin tunnels.

The initial 7 km section of the Northern Motorway is an automated-toll road, and is also known as the Northern Gateway Toll Road. The electronic toll-registering gantry is located at the southern end of the section. At the first junction, west of Orewa, the motorway becomes free-use.

The next 17 km to Albany runs through a mainly rural environment. An interchange at Silverdale provides access to the Hibiscus Coast and the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, and also allows access to the alternative route north via State Highway 17 for those not wishing to pay the toll (the Orewa interchange can also be used, but requires driving through local residential areas). South of the junction at Dairy Flat is the motorway's only service centre, which serves northbound traffic, and is the toll cash-payment point for northbound traffic.

The motorway then descends steeply into the northern suburbs of North Shore City, the northern of Auckland's four cities. Crawler lanes are provided for heavy vehicles between Oteha Valley Road and Greville Road. The Greville Road interchange was until 1999 the northern terminus of the Northern Motorway, with the current northbound entrance and exit ramps follow the old motorway formation down to the roundabout with Albany Highway.

The motorway proceeds south-east through the suburbs of the North Shore, with interchanges at Upper Harbour Highway, Tristram Avenue, Northcote Road, and Esmonde Road allowing access to the suburbs. The Upper Harbour Highway interchange is the northern terminus of the incomplete Western Ring Route, which in future will provide an alternative north–south motorway route for traffic travelling through Auckland.

At Esmonde Road, the motorway turns south-west to follow the northern shore of the Waitemata Harbour to Northcote Point, where the motorway crosses the harbour over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The Harbour Bridge has a contraflow system on it which allows five lanes southbound and three northbound during morning rush hour, five lanes northbound and three southbound during evening rush hour, and four lanes each way at other times. The lanes are separated by a moveable median barrier.

Coming off the Harbour Bridge, the road turns sharply to head eastwards towards the Auckland city centre. An interchange with Fanshawe Street allows motorway traffic to access the northern end of the city centre, and also allows lanes to be dropped ahead of the narrow four-lane Victoria Park Viaduct. The motorway then turns south-east across the Victoria Park Viaduct, and travels down the western side of the city centre, with an exit at Cook Street to allow access to the southern end of the city centre.

The motorway emerges at the top of the Central Motorway Junction ("Spaghetti Junction"). The Northern Motorway terminates at the exit to the Northwestern Motorway, with the mainline becoming the Southern Motorway.

Great South Road

This is also known as the traffic free alternative to the Auckland motorway but you cannot avoid the hundreds of traffic lights that done this intravenous artillery of Auckland that keeps people and business going. Home to 9000 small to medium businesses and 12,000 homes this road pumps life into Auckland. This is one road you cannot miss.

The Great South Road was the northern section of the earliest highway between Auckland and Wellington, in the North Island of New Zealand. Construction of the Great South Road began in 1861 during the New Zealand Wars. The road was constructed by British Army troops, and provided a flow of supplies for the Waikato campaign.

Much of the road between Newmarket and Drury is laid in concrete, up to 1 foot thick but is now covered with asphalt. State Highway 1, with its superior engineering for speed, has largely superseded the Great South Road as a through route, but many parts of the road are still in use, particularly the urban sections.

The road begins in the central Auckland suburb of Epsom, then passes through the suburbs of Greenlane, Penrose, Otahuhu, Papatoetoe, Manukau, Manurewa and Papakura. Leaving the urban sprawl, it heads south through Drury and Bombay, over the Bombay Hills, and follows the east bank of the Waikato River until crossing it at Ngaruawahia. A section of State Highway 3 through Ohaupo retains the road's southernmost extension

NewsTalk ZB

People who travel to work daily by either of the above two routes namely the motorway or great south road know the importance of this unique radio station. The station that has become the pulse of the nation and more so for the Aucklanders. It provides you with news and updates as it happens and provides the 15 minute traffic and weather updates. If you live in Auckland then you must tune in to this no 1 news station.

Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio network operated by The Radio Network of New Zealand (TRN). It is available in almost every radio market in the country, and has news reporters based in many of them. In addition to talkback, the network also broadcasts news, interviews, music, and sports (sometimes in partnership with its sister network Radio Sport).

Most of the network's programming is produced in Auckland, in the Radio Network building on the corner of Cook & Nelson Streets. Wellington and Christchurch produce some local programming and most markets produce their own local news and weather updates.

Newstalk ZB started in 1987 when Auckland's1ZB changed to a talkback format and was originally known as Newstalk 1ZB. During the late eighties and early nineties Radio New Zealand switched many of their local heritage stations to FM but retained the AM frequency in each region running the same programme on both frequencies, however some stations ran separate programmes at certain times(such as talk shows) on the AM frequency. In 1993 and 1994 the local station in each region was rebranded with the Classic Hits name and the AM frequency was used to roll out Newstalk ZB across New Zealand. In Christchurch and Wellington local stations 2ZB and 3ZB changed to a talk format around 1991 and new local stations Goodtime Oldies B90 FM (Wellington) and Goodtime Oldies B98 FM were created. Around 1994 2ZB and 3ZB were rebranded as Newstalk ZB retaining local announcers at first but in recent years as local announcers have left shows have been replaced with network shows. Wellington and Christchurch still have a local show in the mornings between 9 am and 12 pm. In February 1993, in Auckland, Newstalk ZB began broadcasting on 89.4 FM as well as the original 1080 AM when local station 89X (formerly 89FM) ceased to operate, Radio New Zealand purchased this station a year earlier and chose to close it down and use the frequency for Newstalk ZB. The Newstalk ZB nationwide 0800 number (0800 80 10 80) actually comes from the original 1080AM frequency in Auckland that is still in use today.

In 1996 Radio New Zealand sold their commercial operation and Newstalk ZB, along with Classic Hits and ZM, became part of The Radio Network.

Sylvia Park

Sylvia Park is a large business park and shopping centre in the Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Mount Wellington. Less commonly known, the area around the centre (which includes some residential and other commercial developments) is also called Sylvia Park (the centre takes its name from the area, not vice versa, but Sylvia Park is not officially a suburb). The area is located adjacent to two major interchanges of the Auckland Southern Motorway - the South-Eastern Highway (which passes directly through the shopping centre on a viaduct) and Mount Wellington Highway

Land and store space in the Sylvia Park development is let out to a wide variety of major retailers, with key tenants including The Warehouse Extra, Hoyts Cinemas, Borders bookstore, Dick Smith Powerhouse as well as the Pak'n Save and Foodtown supermarkets. In addition, the centre has franchises of all major New Zealand banks and a wide variety of other retailers. The centre employs approximately 2,500 staff, and was drawing about 12,000 shoppers at a time during the weekends of the 2007 winter months.

In a 2008 rating of New Zealand shopping centres by a retail expert group, Sylvia Park received four stars, the maximum rating, based on the criteria of amount of shopping area, economic performance, amenity and appeal as well as future growth prospects. Especially praised were the wide catchment of shoppers and the motorway accessibility.

The name Sylvia Park is from the large country house / stud farm built here in the late 19th century. It was the country residence of Sir Maurice O'Rourke, one of the first Speakers of the House. Sir Maurice used the land primarily for horse breeding. The house was demolished in the 1960s and the land given over to either industrial use or became part of the Mount Richmond public domain.

The development is owned by Sylvia Park Business Centre Ltd (SPBCL), a subsidiary of Kiwi Income Property Trust. The development is situated on 24 hectares of land, a large part of which is still to be developed as of the late 2000s. KIPT acquired the land in two transactions in 1995.

However, the land was at that stage zoned for industrial use by the Auckland City Council. The developers asked the council to modify the district plan to allow high-density commercial use, a change which the council supported, and drafted into 'Plan Change 4'. However, the plan change was opposed by the Ngati Maru Iwi authority, which represents Māori interests in the area. A December 2001 decision of the Environment Court confirmed the plan change. Demolition and construction began in 2004, with retail construction beginning in 2005.

Otara Flea Market

The colors of Otara

Where will you find a typical South Aucklander on a sunny Saturday morning? Well, you do not have to look too far, just taking a small trip to the far end of the famous East Tamaki road to the M.I.T campus where you will find the largest market in Australasia. The more I say the less it will be for the praise and bounds of this market has no ends. From clothes to food, music and entertainment, it has it all.

Come to shop or just for fun. It has live bands and performances plus the local church always has their fantastic choir ON in one part of the venue. It’s the cheapest place to buy your veges as local farmers and fruit growers strut their stuff. At the back end of the venue you will find the resident shops which will have multiple mind blowing specials for this occasion.

The Market In Full Swing

One of the many fascinating stalls

I just cannot think of any product that is not on sale in this market. There is McDonalds as well in case you wanna answer your stomachs call. There is never a shortage for parking at this venue as the campus is simply massive but the advice is to be in early to avoid trips around the car park. Some come to shop and for some this is just a place to be come Saturday morning. Come rain come shine come tornados but the number of stalls shall not dwindle but increase with each season and bring along with them fresh variety.

You can also find the infamous mobile Chinese massage centres where you can give treat your muscles with the chinky twist or indulge in a makeover session with one of the many mobile beauty parlours available on the day. The resident stores include a furniture giant, a home ware specialist, a super market, hairdressers and a number of garment outlets.

If you have been to Auckland or lived here and not visited this fascinating market then you have missed out on a really amazing experience.

Pakuranga Night Market

Pakuranga Night Market or should we say Pakuranga Food and Fun market. Held every Saturday evening from 6pm to midnight, it’s the perfect night out for some shopping and stomach indulging. Not only does it have antiques galore, it’s got a rare combination of stalls that include jewellery, home ware, makeups, bags, vegetables stalls, NZ artefacts, toys and what more it’s even got a live band where wannabe NZ idols give their best. Everything at incredibly low prices plus there is abundant of parking all around the Pakuranga Plaza. This is the newest jewel to the Auckland throne first introduced in April 2011.

When it comes to food, there are many choices at the Pakuranga Night Market; Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, American, Italian, Russian…… and last but not least: MALAYSIAN cuisines.

Once you enter the night market, you will experience that familiar ‘pasar malam’ atmosphere and see stalls with flags or symbols that show the type of food they are offering.

There are actually two Malaysian stalls at the market; one specialises in soup noodles such as curry laksa and fish ball noodle soup. The other stall sells satay and chinese lobak kuih among others.

You can find them quite easily as both stalls are located at the end of the two corners. For those homesick or pasar-malam-sick students, you now have an opportunity to enjoy a moment of New Zealand pasar malam here. If you live in the city and wish to take a bus to Pakuranga, just catch one of these buses at the Symonds St bus stops:  buses 50, 51, 680 or 681. Do bring some cash with you as not all stalls have eftpos machines.

When I think of food at night markets in NZ, I have nightmares of greasy chop suey and hot dog on a stick. Seriously though, I haven’t really figured out what chop suey is even after 11-odd years in NZ, but whatever it actually is, I always think of some stir-fried noodle monstrosity and I have never tried hot-dog-on-a-stick either, my sensibilities would not allow me to even attempt to eat this. I give gratitude to my parents’ valiant culinary upbringing of us kids.

Therefore my low expectations were completely blown to smithereens entering the Pakuranga Warehouse carpark where the Night Market was held. To my surprise, this is well-organised and boasted over 50 different food stalls.

K Road

Karangahape Road (commonly known as K' Road) is one of the main streets in the central business district (CBD) of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area - and subsequent flight of residents and retail into the suburbs - turned it from one of Auckland's premier shopping streets into a red light district from the 1960s onwards. Considered to be one of the cultural centres of Auckland, since the 1980s-1990s it has been undergoing a slow process of gentrification, and is now known for cafes, boutique shops and less disreputable types nightlife.

It runs mostly west–east along a ridge at the southern edge of the Auckland CBD, perpendicular to Queen Street, the city's main street. At its intersection with Ponsonby Road in the west, Karangahape Road becomes Great North Road, at its eastern end it connects to Grafton Bridge.

The name stems from the Māori language. The original meaning and origin of the word as a street name is uncertain, but there are many interpretations - ranging from "winding ridge of human activity" to "calling on Hape". Hape was the name of a Māori chief of some importance living over on the Manukau Harbour, thus the name possibly indicates the route that was taken to visit him.

As it was a travel route used by the pre-European Māori, Karangahape Road is an older thoroughfare than Queen Street, which was only developed by Europeans in the 1840s. Māori sold the land for Karangahape Road and Pitt Street in 1841. The Karangahape ridge was the formal southern edge of Auckland in the 19th century.

From about 1900 to the early 1960s K' Road was Auckland's busiest shopping street with many clothing shops large and small along with several department stores. Most retail chain stores had branches here, often in preference to Queen Street. During the interwar period most of Auckland's main shops selling furniture, musical instruments, radios and household appliances were located here. It had the first traffic lights in Auckland (and the first lights to have pedestrian phases), and the first fluorescent street lights.

After 1965 K' Road lost most of its local customer base when construction of the inner-city motorway system resulted in over 50,000 people having to move out of the surrounding areas. The downturn in trade led to many shops closing and the relocating of businesses to other areas of Auckland. This accelerated the decline, and by the early 1970s the low rents meant it had acquired a rather seedy reputation as Auckland's red-light district. Since the early 1990s there has been a move away from this image due to newly constructed apartment blocks attracting residents back to the area, as well as a general gentrification of close-by areas like Ponsonby. Nowadays only very few enterprises are connected with the adult industry.

Alongside the few remaining shops and venues catering to the sex trade, K Road currently boasts an eclectic collection of shops, cafés and art galleries. At night its restaurants, bars and nightclubs make it a major part of Auckland's social scene. K Road has become a centre for much of Auckland's bohemian scene, with many venues for alternative music and fringe art as well as the LGBT community. It is also known for it's trendy op shops.

The street received a major upgrade of its footpaths and street furniture which finished in 2006, at a cost of NZ$3.5 million. As of 2011, approximately 400 businesses are on K Road.

The People

Auckland is home to people from over 145 nationalities which makes it a true cosmopolitan entity. It is the largest Polynesian city in the world. The people of Auckland are lively, noble and have a heart of gold. They are tolerant and do not believe in discrimination.

Walking down one of the most popular streets Dominion Road one could be forgiven to mistake it for an Asian town. There are literally thousands of Asians restaurants and business lines along that street. When you visit the city, you will find that no two faces are the same. The only thing common is that they all have a smile and are always willing to lend you a hand if needed.

The generosity and hospitality of the people are second to none. Aucklanders welcome guests with open arms and treat them like family. No wonder why the Gods decided to bless Aucklands with Eight wonders and another Eight Jewels.