Bridge

I love driving over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. I was born and raised in this city so I've driven over it literally hundreds of times over the years. This is one side going up from the North Shore.

 And this is going down the other side towards Auckland City, South Auckland and West Auckland. A little bit of history about it below:

"The Auckland Harbour Bridge picked up where the ferries left off. There was talk of a bridge across the Waitematā as early as 1860 and again between the wars, but the planners and politicians gave the green light only in 1946 when they made it central to the new motorway system they fondly believed would solve Auckland’s transport problems. The Westhaven reclamation at the southern end began in 1951.

For most of its history the Auckland Harbour Bridge has been a victim of its own success. The intended five lanes were reduced to four to save money. It opened on 30 May 1959 and in its first year averaged 13,493 cars a day, a shock for planners who had predicted 8250 a day by 1965. Between 1967 and 1969 the bridge was widened by adding two Japanese-designed dual-lane steel box extensions to its outside. The so-called ‘Nippon clip-ons’ bought some time but demand kept outpacing capacity. Traffic jams on the bridge even drove some people back to the ferries. The average daily flows of 80,000 vehicles in 1970 doubled to 165,000 by 2000."

This is how it looked under construction back in the 1950s.

These days the bridge twice a day, one in the morning then again in the afternoon regularly gets gridlocked with bumper to bumper traffic because the city's population has increased so much. 

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Views from Maungawhau

In early Autumn we visited parts of Auckland, this was one place I've been wanting to see for quite some time. I grew up in the suburbs of Auckland and when I was little my Nana and Grandad lived in Mount Eden which is very nearby. They use to take my up this mountain sometimes so it is quite special to me.  

Cars are not allowed to drive up to the top, you have to park at the bottom and walk up, this hasn't always been the case so I think it's probably because of the amount of walkers and cyclists.

Mt Eden (Maungawhau) is one of the most prominent volcanic cones remaining in the Auckland region. Erupting about 15,000 years ago from three overlapping scoria cones, it formed a huge scoria mound with a central crater from the last eruption. Lava flowed out from the base of the mound, and in some places the lava is more than 60 metres thick.

Maungawhau was a significant fortified pā, large enough to provide refuge for several hundred people. Extensive earthworks modified the steep upper slopes of the cone.  This particular monument at the top was erected in 1933 as a memorial to the pioneers who played a part in the transformation of the land which was once a wilderness.

From the lookout at the top there are views all over Auckland including Devonport, Parnell, Newmarket, the North Shore and Rangitoto Island. This is one of Auckland region's fourteen Tūpuna Maunga (ancestral mountains). At 196m tall, Maungawhau or Mount Eden is the highest volcano in Auckland. 

You can see the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Auckland City and the Sky Tower in this photo - the land in the distance is the North Shore where I lived. Mount Eden got it's name from George Eden who was the first Earl of Auckland. 

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Auckland Harbour Bridge at night

I'm one of those people who always has my camera on hand, I managed to snap this one night while we were staying in Bayswater in Auckland. This is our very own harbour bridge all lit up. Enjoy

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