Where is Jason Wolf?: Stop #7 Around-the-World 2009; Auckland, New Zealand; March 9-10, 2009.

Here are photos of the last stop on my Around-the-World 2009 trip: Auckland, New Zealand. March 9-10, 2009.

I found Auckland to be a clean, vibrant, and cosmopolitain city. Would definitely be a nice place to live. On my way from Queenstown to Auckland, I met a fellow American, named Amy. Amy is from Chicago. We hit it off very well and decided to explore the city, and neighboring Waiheke Island, together. It was a great time!

Auckland, New Zealand

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with over 1.3 million residents, 31 percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest of the country. Increasingly cosmopolitan, Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world, and has seen many people of Asian ethnicity move there in the last two decades.
It is a metropolitan region made up of Auckland City (excluding the Hauraki Gulf islands), North Shore City, and the urban parts of Waitakere and Manukau cities, along with Papakura District and some nearby urban parts of Rodney and Franklin Districts. In Māori its name is Tāmaki-makau-rau, or the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.
Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water.

History

The isthmus was first settled around 1350 and was valued for its rich and fertile land. Many pā (fortified villages) were created, mainly on the volcanic peaks. Māori population in the area is estimated at about 20,000 people before the arrival of Europeans. The subsequent introduction of firearms, which began in Northland, upset the balance of power and led to devastating inter-tribal warfare, causing iwi who lacked the new weapons to seek refuge in areas less exposed to coastal raids. As a result, the region had relatively low numbers of Māori when European settlement of New Zealand began. There is, however, nothing to suggest that this was the result of a deliberate European policy. On 27 January 1832, Joseph Brooks Weller, eldest of the Weller brothers of Otago and Sydney bought land including the sites of the modern cities of Auckland and North Shore and part of Rodney District, for "one large cask of powder" from "Cohi Rangatira".
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, chose the area as his new capital, and named it after the George Eden, Earl of Auckland, then Viceroy of India. However, even in 1840 Port Nicholson (later Wellington) was seen as a better choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island, which was being settled much more rapidly. At the same time, Auckland was the capital and principal city of the Auckland Province, remaining so until the provincial system was abolished in 1876. Immigration to the new city remained strong, however, even after it lost its status as national capital in 1865.

In the early 1860s, Auckland became a base against the Māori King Movement. This, and continued road building towards the south into the Waikato, enabled Pākehā (European New Zealanders) influence to spread from Auckland. Its population also grew fairly rapidly, from 1,500 in 1841 to 12,423 by 1864. The growth occurred similarly to other mercantile-dominated cities, mainly around the port and with problems of overcrowding and pollution.
Trams and railway lines shaped Auckland's rapid expansion in the early first half of the 20th century, but soon afterward the dominance of the motor vehicle emerged and has not abated since; arterial roads and motorways have become both defining and geographically dividing features of the urban landscape. They also allowed further massive expansion that resulted in the growth of associated urban areas like the North Shore (especially after the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge), and Manukau City in the south.
A large percentage of Auckland is still dominated by a very suburban style of building, giving the city a very low population density. Although it has no more than a sixth of the population of London, it sprawls over an area almost as large (over 1,000 km2), making some services like public transport costlier than in other, high-density, cities, but also allowing most Aucklanders to live in similar residential houses as the rest of New Zealand, though the section sizes are much smaller than in most of the rest of the country.

The Skytower

The Sky Tower is an observation and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand. It is 328 metres (1,076 ft) tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast, making it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, and the 12th tallest member of the World Federation of Great Towers. Due to its shape and height, especially when compared to the next tallest buildings, it has become an iconic Auckland structure, often used in logos and promotions.
The landmark is part of the SKYCITY Auckland casino complex, owned and operated by SKYCITY Entertainment Group. However, the complex was originally built for Harrah's Entertainment

Downtown Auckland

Old Port building at Westhaven Harbour

Departing Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island (pronounced /'waiheke/ in Māori language but sometimes /waɪ'hekiː/ in English) in is in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand and is located about 17.7 km (about 35 minutes by ferry) from Auckland.
The second-largest (after Great Barrier Island) of all the gulf islands, is also the most populated (being the third most populous island in New Zealand, after the North and South Islands, and being the most densely populated of any of the inhabited islands of New Zealand, with 83.58 people/km²). It is also the most accessible due to regular ferry and air services.