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Key Attractions Auckland Domain and Auckland Museum Created in 1845, Auckland Domain is the city’s oldest, largest and most attractive park, with gardens and statues, pathways and ponds, a winter garden with cool and tropical houses, and the Fernz Fernery, with over 100 types of fern. The 81-hectare (202-acre) Domain is situated on an extinct volcano, known as pukekawa or ‘hill of bitter memories’. Within the domain is the Auckland Museum, the city’s most visited attraction, combining its Greco-Roman style architecture with a contemporary take on the displays. The ground floor is devoted to ‘The People’, the middle to ‘The Place’ and the top to ‘New Zealand at War’, while a small area on the middle floor is given over to the Children’s Discovery Centre. The displays tend not to be confined to Victorian-style glass cases but include various interactive and audiovisual components. The museum also houses one of New Zealand’s most important collection of Maori and South Pacific artefacts and a Manaia cultural performance, heralded by a conch blast throughout the museum at 1100 and 1330. Auckland Domain Tel: (09) 303 1530 (domain) or 306 7067 (museum). Fax: (09) 379 9956 (museum). Website: www.akmuseum.co.nz Transport: Public, Link or Explorer buses. Opening hours: Daily dawn-dusk (domain); daily 1000-1700 (museum). Admission: Free (domain); NZ$5 suggested donation, valid for repeated entry (museum); NZ$15 (cultural performance). Auckland City Art Gallery The city’s main art gallery has the country’s largest collections of both native and international art. The Heritage Gallery, which was opened in 1888, contains the bulk of the collection, with the New Gallery, opened across the street in 1995, concentrating on contemporary art, with revolving exhibitions. In the Heritage Gallery, international artists include Breughel and Millais, with Reynolds and Gainsborough providing a link back to colonial days. Some of the most memorable images are those by Gottfried Lindauer and Charles F Goldie, who depict passive portraits of Maori with moko (facial tattoos). A free guided tour is available daily at 1400 and there is a programme of regular talks. Heritage Gallery Corner of Wellesley Street and Kitchener Street Tel: (09) 309 7693 or 0831 E-mail: gallery@akcity.govt.nz Website: www.akcity.govt.nz/attractions/artgallery Transport: Public, Link and Explorer buses. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700. Admission: Free. New Gallery Corner of Wellesley and Lorne Streets Tel: 307 4540 or 309 0831. E-mail: gallery@akcity.govt.nz Website: www.akcity.govt.nz/attractions/artgallery Transport: Public, Link and Explorer buses. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700. Admission: NZ$4. New Zealand National Maritime Museum In the heart of the Downtown waterfront, this museum pays homage to the debt an island nation owes to its maritime history. It covers almost a millennium of history – from the arrival of Maori and then European settlers, to the 2000 Americas Cup. Displays also deal with navigation skills, whaling, sealing and other fishing activities, the first freezer ships to export farm produce (sheep and dairy products) to Europe, and the invention of the jet boat. Visitors can see historical boats, make their own model boats and take a trip out into Auckland Harbour. Eastern Viaduct, corner of Quay and Hobson Streets Tel: (09) 373 0800. Fax: (09) 377 6000. E-mail: mmuseum@wave.co.nz Website: www.nzmaritime.org Transport: Satellite Bus from Auckland Museum. Opening hours: Daily 0900-1800 (Nov-Apr); daily 0900-1700 (Apr-Oct). Admission: NZ$12. Museum of Transport, Technology and Social History (MOTAT) Commonly known as MOTAT – from the days before ‘and Social History’ was added to the name – this is the country’s largest transport collection. It has a working tramway that links its two sections, the main museum and the Sir Keith Park Memorial Site. The latter is the collection of aircraft, including vintage aircraft from the two World Wars and a replica of the Richard Pearse plane – the first successful powered aircraft, long before the Wright brothers. The main museum has displays on all other modes of transport, a reproduction Victorian village and the Science Centre, with interactive exhibits on technology and communications. Great North Road, Western Springs Tel: (09) 846 7020. Website: www.akcity.govt.nz/motat Transport: Yellow Bus 45 and the Link bus. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700. Admission: NZ$10; NZ$3 (tramway). Howick Historical Village In 1840, Auckland only had 1500 inhabitants. This living museum deals with the dramatic and turbulent events of the next 50 years, when the bulk of the settlers arrived from Britain, Ireland and Australia and Maori were forcibly removed from their land. The 33 period buildings have been set in a landscape of reproduction gardens, streets and even a village pond. Staff dress in period costume and on the third Sunday of each month, there are special displays relating to different aspects of this period in the city’s past. Bells Road, Lloyd Elsmore Park, Pakuranga Tel: (09) 576 9506. Fax: (09) 576 9708. E-mail: fencible@ihug.co.nz Website: www.fencible.org.nz Transport: Bus to Howick; public buses, alight opposite Lloyd Elsmore Park. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700. Admission: NZ$9. Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World Kelly Tarlton was a local diver who designed this centre, which was opened in 1985, so that non-divers could experience the underwater world that he found so fascinating. The perspex walk-through tunnels of Underwater World were the first to give visitors the illusion of walking underwater, for close encounters with sharks, rays and other creatures of the deep. The additional Antarctic Encounter includes a reconstruction of the hut in which Captain Scott and his expedition perished, modern-day studies of life on Earth’s frozen continent and a Disney-like ride on the Snow Cat through artificial icebergs and snow drifts. 23 Tamaki Drive, Orakei Tel: (09) 528 0603. Fax: (09) 375 4732. E-mail: ktinfo@kellytarltons.co.nz Website: www.kellytarltons.co.nz Transport: Explorer Bus and public buses. Opening hours: Daily 0900-2100 (Nov-Mar); daily 0900-1800 (Apr-Oct). Admission: NZ$24. Auckland Zoo Almost 1000 creatures from around the world are housed at this forward-looking zoo, which tries to place the animals in surroundings that recreate their natural environment. New Zealand’s native species are well represented, in particular the hard-to-see national bird, the kiwi, in a nocturnal enclosure, as well as the Tuatara – the most famous national lizard-cum-dinosaur. There is also a large walk-through aviary. The rainforest is such a popular feature that it even has its own website. Here monkeys and apes, parrots, spiders and other rainforest creatures can be seen in their natural habitat. Pridelands is an area that is home to the animals of Africa, including lions, rhinos and giraffes, while Hippo River allows very close-up views of hippopotami. Guided tours are available and there is an informative Visitor Centre. Motions Road, Western Springs Tel: (09) 360 3800 or 3819. Website: www.zoorainforest.co.nz Transport: Satellite Bus from Auckland Museum; public buses and tram from MOTAT. Opening hours: Daily 0930-1730. Admission: NZ$13. Skytower New Zealand’s tallest building stands 328m (1076ft) high, in the centre of Auckland. A lift service takes 40 seconds to whizz visitors to the first observation platforms. From here, the views are breathtaking enough but even more so from very top level, from where visitors can look out over the harbour as well as the city. The tower is one part of the Sky City complex – a casino with cafés, bars and a restaurant. Visitors should note that anyone spending a minimum amount dining here (currently NZ$25.50) receives a free pass to the very top of the tower. It is possible for visitors to climb even higher, to the crows nest, a further 50m (164ft) up, costing NZ$95, as part of the Vertigo experience, which involves wannabe climbers being put through a simulator to make sure they are up for it. Alternatively, for NZ$195 it is possible to attempt the world’s longest tower-based jump, where a harness and attached wire allow for a 25-second, arrested free-fall, eye-popping descent. Sky City, corner of Federal and Victoria Streets Tel: (09) 912 6400. Transport: Explorer, public and link buses. Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 0830-2300; Fri-Sat 0830-2400. Admission: NZ$15 to observation platforms, plus NZ$3 to the top. |
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