The Places That Bring Us Joy In Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

As daylight saving begins to fulfil its promise of longer and brighter evenings, we’re feeling a lift in mood. This sunnier outlook has encouraged us to look around the city and document the places we look forward to being in.

Hollywood Avondale

I went to high school in Avondale, so this grand theatre was a cinematic setting for my coming-of-age. I’ve frequented it for gigs and screenings since I was a teen. One year, it was our launchpad for a buzzy weekend of the 48-Hour Film Festival. The Hollywood actually began its long life as the Whau Public Hall in 1867. According to records from the Auckland Star, it has been screening films since 1900 when an Edison kinematograph – an early film projector – came to town. In my time as an audience member, over 110 years later, I’ve frequented their showing of classics and cult films (the bizarre and beloved The Room screens here about once a month). There’s something about this theatre, perhaps the deep red stage curtains or the lofty, neo-classical ceilings, that make it an especially spooky setting for horror movies. Earlier this year, I joined a festival audience to wince through Birdeater, a hectic Australian horror film about a buck’s weekend gone bad – I was so freaked by the end that I didn’t want to leave my seat. I never feel more in community than when I’m enclosed in an audience and the crowds who gather at The Hollywood are among some of the best. – Madeleine Crutchley, multimedia journalist

Central city parks

I live and work in the central city and the green spaces in town bring immeasurable joy to my days. Walking down Bowen Ave, on your right you’ll see a twisted gum tree that’s bathed in sunlight in the mornings. In nearby Emily Place Reserve, there are sprawling Kermadec pōhutukawa, some branches slung so low you have to duck to get under them. Albert Park is a gem. I love the big old Morton Bay figs. There’s a blossom tree that pops off in October, and cheerful poppies are planted in the flowerbeds at present, so it’s full of joy. Vegetation isn’t the only source either, people watching proves an uplifting experience as you see others – families, students, workers – enjoying the grounds. Lesser known but (I think) even better is the Auckland University park on Waterloo Quadrant overlooked by Old Government House, an expanse of lawn surrounded by benches and historic trees. It’s charming and quiet, frequented mostly by students and residents from that part of town. On the flower front, it’s home to jacaranda, hibiscus, camellias, dahlias and a rose garden. Speaking of which, while you’re there pop across the road to stand under the wisteria outside the High Court because it smells divine right now. – Emma Gleason, NZ Herald lifestyle deputy editor

Te Nikau Pā

You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d left the city entirely when visiting Te Nikau Pā, also known as Clevedon Scenic Reserve. Set among 100 hectares of native bush, the well-maintained summit walkway comprises a recently renovated boardwalk and gravel track, which trace uphill to the lookout. Here, you can enjoy uninterrupted, 360-degree views of the Hunua Ranges, Hauraki Golf and surrounding Clevedon area. Not the hiking sort? Instead, stay at ground level and take the trail to the waterfall, an easy five-minute stroll from the carpark. – Ashleigh Cometti, beauty editor

The sculptural view from Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Cafe

When Auckland’s summer threatens to leave me weeping in a puddle of humidity and I can’t stand the outside world (or weather) for a second longer, I get on an air-conditioned bus and head for a temperature-controlled art gallery. Around the corner of the counter of the cafe on level one of the magnificent Auckland Art Gallery, there’s a space that is like a room within a room. A large window looks out onto an enormous tree on the edge of Albert Park, and an addictive kinetic sculpture. Double L Excentric Gyratory was made by American artist George Rickey in 1985. To quote from the gallery guide: “The perfectly balanced L-shaped vanes move lazily, in response to the slightest breeze, or dive and whirl with stronger gusts.” Best viewed with a smoked salmon bagel and long black which will leave you scant change out of $30 but staring at the sculpture (and most of the rest of the gallery) is free. – Kim Knight, senior journalist

Academy Cinemas

There’s an abundance of natural beauty in Tāmaki Makaurau (the train trip across Ōrākei Basin is especially dreamy), but the spot that most frequently delights me is the Academy Cinema, a two-screen inner-city movie theatre housed in a subterranean concrete bunker. Programming is packed with independent, arthouse and classic films and there’s something enchanting about farewelling cellphone service, descending beneath the city library and not knowing whether you’ll join a line that snakes halfway up the staircase or be one of only five patrons in the 211-seat cinema.

I love that you can pay $5 for any film on a Wednesday or $518 and rent out the boutique cinema all for yourself. I love that they serve a hashbrown platter (four hashbrowns, cooked on a sandwich press and served with tomato sauce), I love that they do things like show Carol and All Of Us Strangers in a double bill and market it as Sad Gay Christmas, because the holiday is both those things. I love that they open between Christmas and New Year’s when everyone else is at their bach, so you can watch Parasite in the air conditioning, re-emerge back up the steps into the world and it’ll still be light outside. – Tyson Beckett, multimedia journalist

Rotoroa Island

When I need to get away from it all and give my mental health a literal breath of fresh air, I jump on the Explore ferry and head out to Rotoroa Island. No, not Rotorua – this is a beautiful island paradise to the east of Waiheke in Auckland’s unsurpassed Hauraki Gulf. Once a Salvation Army rehab facility, the island is now a conservation sanctuary with regenerating native bush and birdlife. Kiwi chicks are regularly released here, giving them a safe space to grow big and strong before being transported to their new homes in the Coromandel. Takahē roam freely – you’re likely to get up close to at least one during your visit. There are excellent walking tracks and gorgeous beaches, making this an absolute gem, and one that remains largely undiscovered by many Tāmaki Makaurau residents. I know it’s vulgar to talk about one’s own charitable efforts, but I’m also a Rotoroa Island Trust volunteer, a monthly commitment that not only makes me feel good for giving back but also gives me a chance to immerse myself in nature – the best antidote to a regular life spent hunched over a laptop in a fluorescent-lit office. – Stephanie Holmes, lifestyle premium and travel editor

Strawberry Farm, Māngere

When you live and work in the CBD it can get exhausting, so on weekends and days when I’m not driving out to our amazing West Coast beaches and trails, we take a short 15-minute drive to that other part of town that offers plenty of perspective: South Auckland; specifically the Strawberry Farm in Māngere. This place is closed for winter and reopens on Labour Weekend for the summer and has for the past eight years become something of a summer tradition in our household. Where else can you find bags of giant cucumbers for $2 a bag or Beefsteak tomatoes plucked straight off the vine for $3 a bag? But make sure to bring cash - this place does not take Eftpos. Our favourite part is of course the fresh strawberry ice cream using strawberries from the adjacent strawberry field. The soil is incredibly fertile in South Auckland, and it’s always a treat to buy our vegetables here and pause in the sun at a nearby outdoor table with an ice cream in hand. My grandmother’s cemetery is conveniently down the road and is another reason why this part of Tāmaki Makaurau has a special place in my heart. 127 Kirkbride Road, Māngere. – Dan Ahwa, creative and fashion director

Freida Margolis, Grey Lynn

Before anyone emails the Viva inbox concerned that I’ve chosen a wine bar as my happy place in Auckland, this location is about much more than the house pours and craft beers. Freida Margolis is at the top of my childhood street and I remember it as the Westlynn organic butcher, where they’d wrap my parents’ purchases in brown paper and hand me a cocktail sausage for the walk home. It became Freida Margolis in 2014, and the original owners Kathy and Andrew kept the bones of it (it’s now in the capable hands of Mike McManus), preserving the old butcher’s tiles and using the steel hooks for hanging extra chairs rather than prime cuts. They added a leather banquette, bistro chairs and tables and a piano, which is the scene of many impromptu musical shows. The tables spill out onto the sidewalk and in the warmer months they’re always full of happy locals, the huge plane trees of Hakanoa Street providing dappled shade. The crowd is usually eclectic, drawing people from all walks of life, and all are welcome. My favourite spot is inside at a window seat, where I can watch the neighbourhood go by and marvel at how big those trees have grown since I was walking beneath them, cheerio-in-hand - they’ll always remind me of home. - Johanna Thornton, deputy editor

Where do you love to be in Tāmaki Makaurau or other places in Aotearoa? Send us an email at Viva@nzherald.co.nz.

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