First, a word of warning: this post will probably not be the least bit interesting. It’s really just a place to store some photos and our thoughts on three suburbs of Auckland – Devonport, Parnell and Ponsonby – that we have enjoyed spending time in over the past few days, and which we hope to return to soon.
Devonport
During our previous visit to New Zealand back in 2006, we spent a couple of days in a beautiful bed and breakfast in Devonport, a suburb of Auckland’s north shore. Our memories were of an idyllic picture postcard neighbourhood with a few small shops and cafes, a village green-style park at the waterfront, and a tiny beach, all surrounded by white-picket-fence family homes.
We’d wanted to return to Devonport to see what has changed, and were delighted to see that that very little has.
Yes it’s a bit busier (we saw a couple of coaches ferrying elderly cruise passengers around, and several Chinese tourists eyeing up property), but not half as much as other areas of Auckland. It still feels like a village, and within a few minutes of beginning our walk around Devonport’s back streets, we had been greeted with a friendly ‘hello’ … twice… really not something you’d expect in a major city.
The ferry crossing from Auckland Central Harbour to Devonport takes just 10 minutes, and is priced as a commuter / resident service, not for tourism. The bed and breakfast where we stayed all those years ago is still there, just a minute’s walk from the wharf, and, from a quick nose at their website, they are doing very well for themselves (we estimated their annual turnover must be in the region of £300,000!).
We walked east along the shoreline, past a small beach before eventually reaching North Head, home to one of two extinct volcanos on the peninsula. Providing an ideal vantage point over Auckland city, Hauraki Gulf and the inner harbour, North Head was used by the military during both world wars. When coastal defences were scrapped in 1950, it became a reserve, but there is still an extensive network of underground tunnels (open to the public, if you bring a torch!), bunkers and gun-sites to explore.
When we visited in ’06, we didn’t make it to North Head, but we did climb Mount Victoria, Devonport’s other volcano. In a moment of tragic sentimentality, we retraced our steps, and took more photos of those mushrooms!
Before heading back to the ferry terminal, we took a walk through the back streets of Devonport. Houses here are … lovely!
Ponsonby
At the recommendation of one of our tour guides, we visited Ponsonby, perhaps the most happening of Auckland’s suburbs.
Ponsonby is a sprawling area to the west of the city centre. We arrived by bus, but the walk back to the CBD at the end of the afternoon took just 20 minutes.
Housing here is hot property, and it’s easy to see why. The high street is lined with trendy boutiques, bars, and cafes serving gluten-free, dairy-free, super-food-filled mumbo jumbo at eye-watering prices. This is no West End though: it’s clean and classy, reminding me quite a lot of Chiswick.
Originally a working class area, there are actually many small, old homes here (the down-under equivalent of a two-up-two-down). As property prices have risen steeply in the past 15 to 20 years, the area has – of course – seen a lot of new building, but space is limited, so we saw many more apartments here than we did in either Devonport or Parnell.
Although these apartments must appeal almost exclusively to wealthy young city workers, Ponsonby does feel family-friendly. We saw a big supermarket and strolled through two very nice parks.
Parnell
On our first morning in Auckland, our tour guide described Ponsonby as being a great place to visit at any time of day, whilst Parnell is a quieter suburb, perfect for a sunny afternoon.
Lying to the east of the CBD, Parnell is easily accessible on foot. We took a a circuitous route through Auckland Domain – one of the city’s major parks – to reach it, but our direct walk back into town, through the University of Auckland campus, took less than 20 minutes.
Parnell’s ‘high street’ is less than half the length of the equivalent strip in Ponsonby and it feels a lot more like it’s catering for family groups than for socialites.
Quite by accident, we found ourselves wandering down St Stephen’s Avenue, which we later discovered to be Parnell’s most prestigious residential street. Home to Parnell District School, and with substantial, highly-desirable properties on both sides of the street, St Stephen’s Avenue ends at a tiny park with fantastic views across the harbour. Down a long flight of stairs you reach Parnell Baths, a 50m outdoor swimming pool. It was a hot day when we visited, and the pool was bustling.
To the west of the baths is Martyn Fields Reserve, another small park, home to an even smaller church and some even better harbour views!
At the bottom of the hill, yet further west, is a small beach, and on the other side of the valley there is Dove-Myer Robinson Park, a larger park full of mature trees and home to a substantial rose garden.
So parks, a pool, a beach, and a rose garden… all within about 500 yards… and harbour views all around. It’s easy to see why St Stephen’s Avenue, and Parnell in general, is so popular!
