A view of Auckland from dormant volcano Mount Eden. New Zealand’s largest city is home to 33 per cent of its total population and its culture often overlooked by tourists.James Griffiths/The Globe and Mail
As the sun cooks off the early morning mist, Dane Tumahai looks out over Auckland from the summit of Mount Eden, the dormant volcano that sits at the centre of New Zealand’s largest city.
Auckland is known as Tamaki Makaurau in the Maori language, or “the place desired by many.” The city was fought over for centuries by various iwi (nations) before. In 1840, Tumahai’s ancestor, Chief Apihai Te Kawau, gifted 3,000 acres to British settlers to build what would become the modern city.
With 33 per cent of New Zealand’s total population living within its administrative district, and some of the highest housing prices in the country, Auckland is still clearly desired by many, but the city can often be overlooked by tourists.
“We’re underappreciated for our cultural heritage. People see Rotorua and other places as the main Maori destinations, but we have a deep history and a lot of stories to tell here,” Tumahai said.
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He is one of a number of local Maori guides and businesses working with Tataki Auckland Unlimited, an agency of the local government seeking to promote the city as a cultural and tourism destination.
Rather than rushing south to see Rotorua’s hot springs, or the rugged beauty of Mount Ngauruhoe, which served as Mount Doom in New Zealand native Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, TAU hopes to convince visitors to stay a couple of days and explore the beauty of Auckland’s three harbours, long coastlines and splendid views.
On my first morning in Auckland, I was collected from my hotel and driven to Birkenhead wharf to meet up with Panapa Charters, the only Maori-owned fishing charter business in the city.
While most of Panapa’s packages are a full-day experience, I was only on board for the harbour tour, with splendid views of the city’s bridge and the Sky Tower. Two generations of the Panapa family gave a demonstration of filleting red snapper and fed guests sea urchin and mussels, all freshly caught that morning.
Panapa Charters is the only Maori owned fishing charter in Auckland.James Griffiths/The Globe and Mail
The Panapas dropped us at the north wharf, nestling their small fishing vessel in alongside superyachts and ferries.
Later that day, along a different part of Auckland’s rapidly gentrifying docklands, I visited Te Wharekura, or “house of learning,” a Maori-owned mini-museum on the city’s main waterfront. There we joined other visitors to watch a performance of haka and other traditional dance by Rhythm Nation.
Maori make up about 20 per cent of New Zealand’s population, and the Indigenous language and culture is increasingly visible, though there are tensions between Maori and the current conservative government, which has rolled back some measures promoting precolonial heritage.
“We want people to understand our cultural identity and connect with it. Otherwise you could think you’re just in any other city,” said Ceillhe Sperath, co-founder of Auckland tour agency TIME Unlimited.
Though often associated with rugby, haka encompasses a large variety of ceremonial dances, and can be adapted for many purposes, said Tapeta Wehi, leader of performing-arts troupe Te Wehi Haka.
Ceremonial dances, like ones performed by Rhythm Nation, convey cultural stories of the Maori to the audience.James Griffiths/The Globe and Mail
“It’s more than just an angry war dance. It’s about telling our story to the world,” Wehi said. “In the old days, we used to battle on the war path. Today, we battle on stage.”
Te Wehi Haka recently returned from competing in the Te Matatini Festival, an annual haka competition, occasionally called the “Maori Olympics,” and it has also travelled internationally with New Zealand government delegations. And Wehi himself has been hired to create custom haka for companies such as Microsoft, Vodafone and Air New Zealand.
From Eden Park, Sperath drove me up the coast to Bastion Point, a strip of beaches and pricey property still packed with people enjoying the glorious sunshine even as Auckland edges from the Southern Hemisphere fall into winter.
Then it’s off to the Sky Tower for a final, all expansive view of the city, though the second tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere is still, a helpful wall display notes, about 150 metres short of Toronto’s CN Tower.
Auckland’s Sky Tower is the second tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere and comes 150 metres short of Toronto’s CN Tower.James Griffiths/The Globe and Mail
The following morning, I walk the short distance from my hotel to Auckland Harbour to grab a ferry to Waiheke, a bucolic outlying island covered in vineyards. After a slightly bumpy crossing, the vessel arrives at a peaceful enclosed harbour full of yachts and surrounded by beautiful rolling green hills.
There I am collected by Waiheke Wine Tours guide Paora, a walking encyclopedia of Maori culture and history who goes by a single name. After a traditional greeting, which includes blowing a ceremonial conch shell and an overview of the Maori creation myth, Paora drives me to one of the island’s newest Maori-owned ventures, tea shop Timmy Smith. There, the eponymous owner guides me expertly through a tasting of sparkling teas before inviting me to create and name my own blend, which, drawing on my own Welsh roots, I dub “O ynys pell,” or “from a far island.”
While Waiheke is best known for boozy lunches and wine tastings, a tea tasting can provide a much-needed recovery for those who maybe imbibed slightly too hard the day before.
Back on the mainland, after a final walk and cultural tour with Dane Tumahai up Mount Eden, called Maungawhau in Maori, I felt I had a greater appreciation for Auckland than many visitors, and understood why the city’s residents want tourists to do more than just pass through.
But then, like so many visitors before me, I left the city – in search of hobbits.
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Auckland’s public transport is not well developed, and the city is highly car-dependent, though reasonably priced taxis and Uber rides make this easier for those without a car. Driving is on the left, as in Britain. You may require an international driving permit.
Tapping with credit cards and Apple Pay is so ubiquitous in New Zealand that I did not touch a note of currency during my entire trip.
I stayed at the newly opened Horizon Hotel, a comfy, welcoming environment in the heart of the city’s slightly rough-around-the-edges business district. Rooms from $238.
Food in New Zealand is almost always high quality, thanks to the country’s abundance of premium ingredients. There were two culinary highlights for me. The first was dinner at Forest. This cozy restaurant in the Mount Eden area serves a contemporary New Zealand menu, including an incredible Brussels sprouts dish that tasted like salt and vinegar chips, and a dessert based on New Zealand’s favourite adopted fruit, feijoa. Secondly, don’t miss East, a modern pan-Asian eatery located in the centre of the city. It surpassed even the expectations of this decade-long Hong Konger.
The writer was a guest of Tataki Auckland Unlimited for parts of the tour described. It did not review or approve this story before publication.