Things to do in Auckland
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White Lady
The lady in white stealthily materialises after dark, or is it that everyone's too drunk to notice her arrive? This mobile burger bus has been frying-up fast food to late-night boozers since the '50s. The burgers are exxy, but monstrous and greasy and best enjoyed while bathed in the neon glow of the late-night city.
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TIME Unlimited
To Integrate Maori Experiences (TIME) is the motto. A hefty set of cultural, fishing, kayaking, trekking and sightseeing tours are outlined on their website, including excellent kayak-fishing excursions (full day $295)
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Auckland Sea Kayaks
Takes guided trips (including lunch) to Rangitoto ($225, 10 hours) and Browns Island/Motukorea ($175, six hours). Multiday excursions also available.
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Sheinkin
Sheinkin stands out amongst the other eggs-and-coffee joints in Auckland's CBD due to its stellar Israeli-inspired food, quality coffee and unhurried atmosphere. They do a fabulous tasting plate, soups and salads and there is plenty of glossy reading material to peruse while you wait for your bagel.
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Café Melba
Old school through and through, this dim and moody café has businessfolk clustered at its teeny tables both inside and out on Vulcan Lane. At breakfast, there is Eggs Benedict done three ways: veg, regular and with salmon. Or dip your spoon in delectable stewed fruit or porridge. Later at lunch, the menu moves to bagels and curries.
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Agnes Curran
It may sound like someone's maiden aunt but this cute little cafe is much more hipster than spinster. Still Aunt Agnes would appreciate the cake selection and fresh baguettes, although the super-strong coffee might set her heart aflutter. Enter Franklin Rd.
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Toto
A comprehensive list of Italian and NZ wines accompanies Toto's choice of fine Italian fare. And dinner ain't over in the Montecristo Room till the fat lady sings, with set menu and opera singing available Saturday. Movie and music nights also feature.
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Stone Oven
On weekends you’ll want to get in early or get ready to queue for the breads, pastries, cakes and baked goods. Perfect for scoffing in situ, or away from the madding crowd.
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Kelly Tarlton's
In the Underwater World, sharks and stingrays swim around and over you as you're shunted on a conveyor belt through transparent tunnels in what were once stormwater and sewage holding tanks. If you want to get even closer, you can enter the tanks in a shark cage ($79; 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 3pm), and if that doesn't sound terrifying enough, you can dive directly into the tanks ($129; 10am).
In a post Happy Feet world, Kelly Tarlton's biggest attraction is the permanent winter wonderland known as Antarctic Encounter. It includes a walk through a replica of Scott’s 1911 Antarctic hut, and a ride aboard a heated snowcat through a frozen environment where a colony of king…
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Auckland Art Gallery
Reopened in 2011 after a $121-million refurbishment, Auckland's premier art repository now has a gorgeous glass-and-wood atrium grafted onto its already impressive 1887 French chateau frame. It's a worthy receptacle for important works by the likes of Pieter Bruegel the Younger, Guido Reni, Picasso, Cezanne, Gauguin and Matisse. It also showcases the best of NZ art: from the intimate 19th-century portraits of tattooed Maori subjects by Charles Goldie, to the text-scrawled canvasses of Colin McCahon, and beyond.
Free tours depart from the main entrance at 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm.
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One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie)
This volcanic cone was the isthmus’ key pa and the greatest fortress in the country. It’s easy to see why: a drive or walk to the top (182m) offers 360-degree views. At the summit is the grave of John Logan Campbell, who when gifting the land to the city in 1901 requested that a memorial (the imposing obelisk and statue above the grave) be built to the Maori people. Nearby is the stump of the last ‘one tree’.
Allow plenty of time to explore the craters and surrounding Cornwall Park, with its impressive mature trees and Acacia Cottage (1841), Auckland's oldest wooden building. The information centre has fascinating interactive displays illustrating what the pa would…
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SPQR
This Ponsonby Rd hot spot is well known for Roman-style, thin, crusty pizzas and excellent Italian-influenced mains. The surrounds are a stylish blend of the industrial and the chic, the lights are low (bring your reading glasses!), the buzz constant and the smooth staff aren't beyond camping it up.
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Illicit
If you're looking for a lasting memento of your trip to Auckland, have an icon etched into your skin at the well-regarded Illicit tattoo studio. If going home with a volcano on your bicep seems too over the top, it does piercing too: specialising in ear stretching, large-gauge and genital jewellery.
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Coast to Coast Walkway
Heading clear across the country from the Tasman to the Pacific (actually, that's only 16km), this walk encompasses One Tree Hill, Mt Eden, the Domain and the University, keeping as much as possible to reserves rather than city streets. You can do it in either direction: starting from the Viaduct Basin and heading south, it’s marked by yellow markers and milestones; heading north from Onehunga there are blue markers. We recommend catching the train to Onehunga, the least impressive trailhead, and finishing up at one of the Viaduct's bars. From Onehunga Station, take Onehunga Mall up to Princes St, turn left and pick up the track at the inauspicious park by the…
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Iguacu
This always-popular multilevel bar and restaurant complex offers smart, casual dining. A European and Pacific-Rim menu is meat heavy, with a smattering of seafood. The relaxed, potted-palm atrium-like atmosphere heats up on Sunday after 12:00 with live blues and jazz.
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Canton Cafe
Constant queues out Canton Cafe's door are certainly no reflection of this cheap-and-cheerful restaurant's pace. More a sign of the popularity of this BYO-wine place's excellent Chinese dishes, which you'll have done and dusted within 30 minutes. Next!
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Manuka
Bowl in off Devonport's main street for bumper breakfasts and pizza cooked how it should be - fuelled by wood. Snaffle the corner window booth to watch the passing traffic or hover over a sprawling weekend paper; there's a place for everyone at Manuka.
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Rocco
Raise a glass to Rocco. Here, your glass will likely be filled with a heady mix from the cocktail list, and you'll be toasting the flamboyant and friendly service that brings you exceptionally fine Spanish-accented fare. Fahbulous dahling.
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Oh Calcutta
Arguably the country's best Indian (they will argue), Oh Calcutta ventures beyond the familiar butter chicken into exotic and ebullient menu territory. Try the sweet chilli duck, fish tikka (spiced and smoked) or something from the tandoor.
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Mt Eden (Maungawhau)
From the top of Auckland’s highest volcanic cone (196m) the entire isthmus and both harbours are laid bare. The symmetrical crater (50m deep) is known as Te Ipu Kai a Mataaho (the Food Bowl of Mataaho, the god of things hidden in the ground) and is highly tapu (sacred); do not enter it, but feel free to explore the remainder of the mountain. The remains of pa terraces and storage pits are clearly visible.
You can drive to the very top or you can join the legions of fitness freaks jogging or trudging up. Tour buses are banned from the summit, but shuttles will transport infirm passengers to the top from the car park on the lower slopes.
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Wine Cellar & Whammy Bar
Secreted down some stairs in an arcade, this is the kind of bar that Buffy the Vampire Slayer would have hung out in on Auckland-based assignments. It’s dark, grungy and very cool, with regular live music in the neighbouring Whammy Bar.
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Satya
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Euro
Euro is a thoroughly slick package of imaginative cuisine, good-looking wait staff and sexy surrounds. The dishes are always as pretty as a picture and the relaxed atmosphere gets decidedly more bar-like as the night progresses.
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Mekong Neua
Plundering the cuisine of Northeast Thailand and Laos, this welcoming restaurant will fill your head with delicious fragrances and dreams of rice paddies.
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Landreth & Co
A popular brunch spot with a sunny rear courtyard and free wi-fi. It's fully licensed, just in case you feel the urge for a beer with your truffled eggs.
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