5 must do's for Auckland

Auckland, THE biggest city in New Zealand. Home to 1.5 million of its entire 4 million inhabitants over the both Islands and a must do on your trip. It's normally where you fly into when hoping over to my favourite country of all time and there is so much more to do than just walk around the city. Here are 5 of Auckland's must do's...

Auckland Harbour

1. Auckland Sky Tower

The tallest building in the city and the best place to get a view of Auckland. Being situated on the coast you get the best of both worlds, city scape and sea scape, complete with a dormant volcano in the distance. You can head on up and view from the inside, stand on some glass floors and look down (scary for some, including me) and have a meal in the resturant, or you can commit to a sky walk and go right to the top and walk around the outside, on a one metre wide platform being harvested from above. Probably one of the scariest things I've done but the view was so completely worth it. My best advice is to prebook your walk as it is a popular attraction and feel free to have a drink in advance for dutch courage, but be warned they do breathalyser everyone before heading up for safety, so go crazy as a reward afterwards.

View from the Sky Walk

2. Piha Beach - Secret Waterfall

Drive maybe 10 mins out North of the city and you reach an area called Piha, a small town which has a truly unique beach you don't just see anywhere. New Zealand, being a volcanic island, has black sand along the west coast and white sand on the east. The black sand if you look closely shimmers like there are diamonds held within. The sea is rough and as such you also have these great big rugged rocks which you can climb, although I would be careful if you do, and some smaller but even just to view is impressive. When looking at the beach turn around and head into what looks like a jungle to walk through, it contains a secret waterfall, so peaceful and quiet, just a stunning space to be present in. Plenty of people take a dip, we didn't have a towel with us otherwise I totally would have done the same thing.

The rugged Piha beach coast line

Piha's secret waterfall

3. Rangitoto Island

It's not often you get to the chance to be able to see let alone climb up and around a dormant volcano, especially not back home in England. Off the shoreline in Auckland you can grab a boat and 10 mins later you can be physically standing on a volcano. Its so isolated, desolate and yet something so pretty and intriguing. The dried lava crunches beneath your feet like honeycomb, the wildlife has had no interference from humanity its in its purest form, and its quiet, very peaceful and quiet.

A couple of tips for this part...

If you go take plenty of water with you, there are no shops, it is an island uninhabited, so if you run out you run out, and being New Zealand it can get pretty hot out there.

Make sure to where walking boots, the crunchy honeycomb lava can be slippery, you dont want to injure yourself.

And allow yourself time to head back for the return ferry, if you miss it then you spend the night isolated.

Rangitoto Island

4. Villa Maria Vineyards

Right by the airport you'll find the gorgeous Villa Maria Vineyards. What better way to kill some time if waiting for a flight than here. And even if you're not, this place should definitely be on your hit list for Auckland for the scenery alone. Let's face it, the wine definitely comes in handy and it truly is scrumptious, but even wandering through the vines is something everyone should do whilst in Auckland. Make time to visit and have a bite in the restaurant. I can highly recommend the winemakers platter, just enough nibbles (olives, meat, fish, bread) to keep the hunger at bay and it compliments the wine perfectly.

Villa Maria Vineyard

5. Visit the Auckland War Memorial Museum

Not your average war museum as New Zealands contemporary history doesn't span back far, and actually it's history has been pretty tame with wars, but what this museum gives you is the history and artefacts of the old old wars from Maori times. Hard to believe that such weapons and structures were created when the island has been isolated for so long. It really makes you think how did they even think to make what they have made. An impressive collection and a perfect thing to do especially if Auckland has a stormy day that comes out of nowhere.

What's on your list of top things to do here?