Okay, heatstroke fully recovered from so I’d better rattle through Thursday’s adventures since we’re off to the beach-side camping site for Xmas tomorrow. I’ll try and keep this brief.

Using Dubber’s blog as a rough guide plus some other tips here and there I decided on a three point journey starting at Victoria Street for the market (and, usefully, where the bus stops after the bridge), then walking up to Karangahape Road and Ponsonby Street followed by a jaunt over to the Auckland Domain for the Auckland Museum and War Memorial. Finally a stroll back across town to the city centre to catch the bus home. That should do it.

Stupidly I didn’t bring any food or drink with me, figuring I’d pick some up on the way, and because I’m the sort of person who forgets to eat while out I didn’t do this until 3pm. After a 10am start. Hence the heatstroke. I was warned, many times, but did I listen? No. I needed to see it for myself. I will not make that mistake again in a hurry.

So the photos really start on Karangahape Road, or as it’s locally known The K’Road. This, it seems, is skuzzy Auckland with the strip joints, sex shops and other low-life periphery. I half felt a little nervous and half felt completely at home and was very conscious of being a tourist. The paradox goes something like this. I don’t want to be a tourist taking photos of stuff that I’m not a part of, but I am a tourist and certainly not part of this area, but I like this sort of thing and want to take photos of it, yet I know that by being there as a tourist I’m part of a problem which will see this area eventually caught in the bloody maw of gentrification. What can you do? I think the trick is to stay away unless you intend to live there. Still, the architecture was some of the most interesting I’d seen so far.

The gentrification thang has, by all accounts, happened to Ponsonby, an area which is listed in all the guide books as being a bit arty and on the edge and therefore used to be. I could tell it was a bit off as I immediately felt at ease and able to pop into a cafe. But that’s probably a bit harsh. It was still a nice place with similarities to Moseley and Kings Heath in Birmingham. I can see why Dubber spends time there meeting old chums. I know I would if I were a native. So again with the tourist paradox. In order to really appreciate these sort of places you need to get under the skin of them and know the people. This is why I hate giving tourist tips for Birmingham.

But all told I’m glad I went, if only to see a different side to Auckland from the city centre and North Shore suburbs. Then it was off to the Domain, pausing briefly at the Symonds St Cemetery, always a magnet for the photographer and of interest because all the graves are from a certain period in the late 19th century. If I wasn’t on a mission I would have wandered deeper where the bush takes over the graves but settled for the tidy bit. Very nice, and the red moss was intriguing, like something out of War of the Worlds.

The Domain has all the hallmarks of colonial park (though I accept I’m seeing a lot of Auckland in terms of colonialism) - a huge sprawling park on a hill topped with a monumental piece of architecture reminiscent of the British Museum.

The Museum was described to me as “actually worth going to” as opposed to all the usual tourist traps and it was. Some great exhibits well curated with the modern kid-friendly stuff either nice and discrete or wonderfully over the top. The Maori stuff was, of course, spectacular and well done and the natural history areas were wonderful, drawing on the crazy variety of wildlife on the islands. Of special note was the Volcanoes room jam packed full of information from the origins of NZ itself (which lies on a subduction zone) to all the great volcanic explosions through the ages to a specially built “house” overlooking the bay where you can experience what it would be like if a volcano erupted outside your window. I could have spent hours in there.

Overall I was very impressed with the museum. It was fun but not in a tedious way and every section had a reference library and resource centre. And then, nicely integrated into the military history bits, was the war memorial ,not overpowering the building but lending it a sense of gravitas and reflection. I feel many cities could learn from Auckland’s museum.

Then, with the heatstroke starting to kick in I made my way down through the Domain towards the art galleries by Albert Park (yup, that Albert. Victoria really couldn’t let that one go) where I was pretty sure I could find a nice cafe. In the end I found a chain which was a bit of a disappointment but I wasn’t really with it by that stage. Somewhat refreshed I started to make my way back to Victoria Street to complete the circle but was distracted by the notion of Korean fried dumplings for the equivalent of 80p. These turned out to be just that - a dumpling fried on a hot plate and squished into the shape of a thick pancake, liberally soaked in olive oil. Fantastic!

And then, after a final look round the Victoria Street Market where I failed to buy anything I made my way home to suffer the pain of a stupid person who didn’t listen to sound advice.

All the photos are in this set and there’s a good blog post in a number of them. That, along with further reflections on the nature of Auckland, will have to wait ’til later. In the meanwhile I’m going to a place where the internet doth not reach for five days. Be good!