Boardwalk empire: Mount Eden's new look will protect it for future hillclimbers. Photo / Brett Atkinson.
Brett Atkinson inspects Mt Eden summit's clean new look
Auckland's highest volcanic cone has loomed over more than half my life.
A few decades of living, eating and drinking at various locations around Mt Eden, walking up to the summit to prepare for overseas travels, and seeing Hello Sailor belt out Gutter Black on a warm February evening have all made Maungawhau/Mt Eden a constant in my experience of Tāmaki Makaurau.
Tahaki Reserve on Mt Eden Rd is still used for the city's popular Music in Parks events during summer, and the compact park on the maunga's slopes is also the best place to kick off a walk discovering the historic mountain's newest asset. From the century-old red-roofed tram shelter on the corner of Mt Eden Rd, Puhi Huia Rd ascends gently, passing by the ceremonial entrance to what was once Maungawhau's fortified Māori pā, part of a comprehensive defensive network incorporating Te Whau (Blockhouse Bay), Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), and Maungarei (Mt Wellington). Maungawhau was the region's biggest and most important Māori settlement, with kūmara and taro being grown on terraced slopes engineered by Titahi, a Ngāti Awa chief remembered in oral histories for establishing several pā sites around the Auckland region.
Turning right at a compact roundabout, conveniently adjacent to a carpark, the road continues to Mt Eden's Spanish Mission-style pavilion, established as a tearoom in 1926, and now a versatile destination incorporating Whau Cafe and the new Te Ipu Kōrero o Maungawhau/Maungawhau Visitor Experience Centre. Opened in late 2019, the centre is an interesting showcase of the geological and Māori cultural history of Maungawhau/Mt Eden. Highlights include a 10-minute video about Auckland's unique volcanic fields, shortlisted on UNESCO's "tentative list" for inclusion as a World Heritage Site since 2007. There's also acknowledgement of Maungawhau's Māori history on Whau's brunch and lunch menu with dishes harnessing traditional ingredients such as parāoa parai (fried bread), kowhitiwhiti (watercress) and korengo (seaweed). Try the Green Eggs with watercress pesto, peppery kawakawa and pecorino cheese on sourdough, and leave room for a dessert of Whau's real fruit icecream, best enjoyed as a reward after conquering the tihi, or summit.
Vehicle access to the summit was restricted in 2016, the first stage of the Tūpuna Maunga Authority's strategy to confirm UNESCO World Heritage status for Maungawhau and the city's other volcanic cones. Part two of the project begins around 200m from Whau Cafe. Framing the crater rim, and designed to protect the pā tūāpapa, (terraces) and rua kūmara (kūmara storage pits) on the summit's upper slopes, new boardwalks gently rise and fall to conform to the maunga's natural terrain. Sacred to Māori, Maungawhau's 50m deep crater is also known as Te Upu Kai a Mataaho, (the food bowl of Mataaho, a guardian of the earth who lived in the crater), and in past centuries local iwi placed offerings of food there for the powerful deity. Views from the boardwalk deep into the crater are spectacular.
Planning and design of the boardwalk was conducted with local and international experts over 12 months, and including reviewing similar projects protecting ancient sequoia forests in California's Yosemite National Park, the Neolithic Ggantija Temples on the Maltese island of Gozo, and innovative walking trails around Britain's Stonehenge. The result reinforces Maungawhau's importance as an internationally recognised historic fortification. All foundations were screwed into the ground by hand, eliminating the need for damaging excavation work, while the boardwalk's structure of steel mesh and hardwood timber is designed to weather naturally. Most importantly, the entire project is reversible, and can be removed without trace in the future.
The highest point of the boardwalk leads to the trig station atop Maungawhau/Mt Eden, providing 360 degrees of Auckland's isthmus framed by the Manukau and Waitematā harbours. Made of the same bluestone basalt quarried on the mountain to build Mt Eden prison in the late 19th-century, the summit's historic platform is testament to the endeavours of Tom, an elephant owned by Queen Victoria's son Prince Albert. The prince's hardworking pachyderm hauled rocks up to the summit and was apparently rewarded with buns, sweets, and a few pints of beer at local pubs.
From the trig station, the boardwalk's gentle natural rollercoaster links to a viewing platform on Maungawhau's northern knoll. Immediate views include the Sky Tower and the concentrated hub of the CBD, while to the northwest the harbour bridge arcs across the harbour. To the northeast on the near horizon, Rangitoto's forested profile was formed just 600 years ago, and is a surprisingly recent reminder that Auckland is definitely New Zealand's city of volcanoes.
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When there's nothing as far as the eye can see, you may appreciate the company.