A Day of Auckland Views
✒️ Written by: Abbie
For our final day in Auckland, we soaked in the city view one last time… or should I say two last times? First with a walk up Mount Eden, and secondly with a magnificent dinner atop the Sky Tower.
Mt Eden (known as Maungawhau in Maori) is a small dormant volcano nestled amongst the city—one of the few green bumps protruding above the buildings and concrete. Despite the fact it is the highest natural point in Auckland, it is only 196 metres tall. Upon reaching the summit, tourists discover a large crater on the top which in itself is 50 metres deep, formed by the volcano's eruptions over 15,000 years ago.
We took the bus from our hotel to the base of the mountain, which was only a short journey. Yet another gorgeous day in Auckland, we basked in the sun as we scaled the steep hill to the top. It didn't take long to reach the summit, but it certainly was tiring. We stopped halfway and were amazed at the view even then, and used that as motivation to get to the top and see the full view in all its glory.
The top of Mt Eden was swarming with tourists, but the walkway skirting the huge crater makes it incredibly easy to walk around the full thing and gives everyone plenty of space. We didn't know whether to marvel at the crater first or the view of the city! Luckily, we had plenty of time for both, and completed a full 360° lap around the summit. Of course, we stopped for loads of photos. Rangitoto Island where we hiked the day before perched in the backdrop, while the Sky Tower and Auckland's harbour dominated the forefront. We felt giddy knowing we would later be travelling up into the Sky Tower itself and having dinner there, so with that in mind we made our way back down the mountain and got the bus back to our hotel.
Small mistakes were made when we hungrily grabbed sushi back in the CBD, slightly spoiling our appetite for the Sky Tower but, you know what? Sue us, it was really good sushi.
We got all dressed up and walked a meagre 10 minutes from our hotel to the Sky Tower, and headed up in the extensively long lift to the top. The restaurant is named Orbit and for good reason—the floor rotates at a slow but noticeable pace, making a full rotation each hour and allowing us to see every inch of the view. When we arrived, the view was resting on the harbour and Rangitoto Island in the distance, and as it gradually spun round we took in the unique Auckland buildings, parks, little green hills dotted around and of course, Mt Eden where we had walked only a couple hours earlier.
The view was incredible, and when we could bring ourselves to take our eyes off it, so was our food. The restaurant itself was fancy and way too good for folks like us. Our server Vanessa first brought us some bread and butter, then water which was refilled every time we finished a glass, and then (it gets better) a bottle of white wine which also never managed to leave our glasses empty. To start, James had pan-seared scallops and I had great roasted carrot which honestly blew me away—I don't truly know what everything on the plate was, but whatever it was it was phenomenal. For mains, James had Duncan venison and I had sweet potato gnocchi, which we were almost too full to eat but managed to attack anyway. And pudding, which we of course called ✨dessert✨ in an establishment like that, was ginger date pudding for James and chocolate brownie for me. All of which were incredible, uniquely different to what you'd find in Tesco, and competed with the views for the best part of the day.
During our time in the Orbit restaurant, we completed two full orbits and felt the sun warming us through the window. It was a brilliant clear day, perfect for all the breathtaking views we saw, and even though it was evening the sky was still deep blue and almost cloudless.
However, no romantic meal would be complete without a little bit of sunset, so we saw out our final day in Auckland down at the harbour for a little stroll. Picking and pointing at boats and buildings we recognised from atop the Sky Tower, and wishing we owned one of the super yachts sitting in the glistening light as the sun lowered itself toward the sea.
It was perfect and peaceful, until we had to go back to our hotel and repack our suitcases ready for checking out and moving on the next morning. Chaos quickly ensued!