Auckland Domain offers something for everyone

From City Scene, published on 13 January, 2008

Summer fun: Amy Wagstaff, Tanya Miller with Zane, and Jenny Wigley with Freda, enjoy a picnic at the Auckland Domain - a great place to relax, play sport and spend time with friends.

The council-owned and maintained Auckland Domain is an inner-city haven for locals and visitors to enjoy.

The popular park is New Zealand's oldest and offers something for everyone - from formal gardens, sports fields and a band rotunda with great summer music to a sculpture trail, duck pond and the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

The domain is also a great place to enjoy solitude, whether as a peaceful lunchtime break or as sanctuary from shopping in the CBD or Newmarket.

You can pack a family picnic and head out for the day or just spend time under the shade of beautiful trees.

Sports fields make up 10 of the 75 hectares of parkland. Maintenance throughout the year keeps the fields ready for use by cricketers in summer and rugby, league and soccer players during winter.

Many fantastic events are staged in the domain each year, including the popular Christmas in the Park and Starlight Symphony extravaganzas, as well as some of the council's free Music in Parks concerts in the Drake Jazz at the Rotunda and The Culture Garden series. (See right and page 4 for more details.)

The Auckland Domain is set within a 50,000-year-old volcanic crater.

Before the park was established, the land was home to various Maori iwi.

During the founding of Auckland in 1840, Lieutenant Governor Hobson set aside the land for public use.

In 1841, a nursery was set up that initially grew and distributed European plants and trees. Today, it focuses on growing display plants for the Wintergardens.

People who enjoy the domain's duck ponds may be surprised to know they once served as the source of Auckland's first piped water. The domain also once featured an aviary, and served as a military base from which hundreds of soldiers left for the Second World War.

Music in Parks

Music in Parks: The Auckland Domain helps bring the sounds of summer alive during the council's annual Music in Parks series.

The Auckland Domain helps bring the sounds of summer alive during the council's annual Music in Parks series. Music in Parks features 40 free concerts including the weekly Drake Jazz at the Rotunda series - Auckland's longest running annual jazz festival. This year's lineup includes local artists Jazz Campus, Mr Miyagi Project, Slow Burn, Go Blow and the Peter Wood Quintet.

A second series, The Culture Garden, presents various musical genres in intimate park settings, including the domain's Wintergardens - with performances by Bravura, Jubilation, Whirimako Black and Four Brothers Saxophone Quartet. Visit the website or phone 379 2020 for the full programme.

Domain walkways

Upgrades to a majority of the domain's walking tracks begin next week. The work will improve access and provide a network of tracks that are enjoyable in all weather conditions. The project is due to be completed by July, weather permitting. Some track closures may take place during this time while caution may be needed while using others - signs will indicate which tracks these apply to throughout the work.

Winter gardens

Winter garden: Gardeners Paul (front) Novotny and Kevin Webb care for some of the unusual species on display in the Wintergardens

Gardeners Paul Novotny and Kevin Webb care for some of the unusual species on display in the Wintergardens and share their in-depth knowledge of unusual plants with visitors. The Wintergardens complex includes two temperature-controlled display glasshouses, a formal courtyard and fernery. Most of the plants are grown in the domain's nursery and some are unique to the Wintergardens. The Wintergardens are open to the public seven days a week from 9am to 5.30pm (7.30pm on Sundays) from November to March, and 9am to 4.30pm during the rest of the year.