Aotea Square bustles with energy. Drumbeats fill the air as two groups of primary school children listen to women in Polynesian costumes tell them about their culture. Tourists snap photos of the old architecture and modern buildings that define the area.
Sitting unobtrusively on the edge of a planter box is Murray Dewhurst, his pencil gliding along the page of a small black sketchpad, capturing a scene.
"I think Auckland is more interesting since I've been sketching it," the softly spoken graphic designer says. "It's just the energy of the people going to work every day, the architecture of the buildings, the events."
His sketches are the only ones by a New Zealander to be included in the book, The Art of Urban Sketching, a compilation of drawings of cities done by artists all over the world, from Seattle to Auckland. He's also the only Kiwi correspondent to the Urban Sketcher website, which features blogs from invited international artists.
"The book shows people's interpretations of their cities," he says. "It's just an everyday kind of view. You can be an armchair traveller and enjoy looking at other people's sketches. There are so many nice photographs of cities and things but it's a different feeling with sketches."