Auckland Volcanic Fields

Auckland is the largest city and main metropolitan area of New Zealand. Indeed, the next bigger city is Sydney in Australia. The town itself is rather modern. The principal features you will notice wandering around are the hills and the sea plus limited Victorian heritage. It's only from a viewpoint such as Mount Eden that you grasp what the town was built on: volcanoes, Mount Eden being one of them.

In total, we stayed for two days in Auckland and visited both Rangitoto Island by ferry and the three volcanoes in Auckland (One Tree Hill, Mount St. John, Mount Eden). The views of the city were nice, but if I had to choose, I would rather go to Rangitoto Island.

OUV

Supposedly, these volcanoes have significant Maori heritage. Of the sites I visited, I noticed nothing Maori about them. And certainly not when compared to Rotorua, a place brimming with Maori culture.

Rangitoto island is probably the most interesting site in Auckland, being a rather young island (600 years) with plenty of nature to explore. I am neither a geologist or biologist, though, so I can't judge the OUV. I would have also liked to see the stoneworks, but it's outside of town and we didn't manage to get there.

Getting There

Auckland is the central transport hub of New Zealand, being it's biggest city. So unless you stay exclusively on the Southern Island you will pass through. The Volcanic Fields in the city …

"One Tree Hill" got canceled in 2012. The tree on the hill in Auckland got canceled back in 1852, which was then replanted and finally cut down by activists in 2000. People always assume there is a tree at the top, one of Auckland's top sights. In fact there is just a monument to the Māori who got slaughtered here back in the ignorant days. You don't HAVE to go to the Cornwall Park to discover the volcanic fields. I have been to many mounds around the city without even knowing, but here is where they actually point it out with some nice signs, also known as volcanic cones. This is also Auckland's second-largest volcanic field.

Even the documentation says this isn't unique, and wants to represent it as a mixed cultural landscape, having Māori live in this kind of environment. For that you'd have to go see something like the Ōtuataua Stonefields. While not much to see and not the top sight in New Zealand you may be seeking out, it is one of the best examples of how the settlers adapted to the climate. The stone-walled gardens would warm the soil and extend the growing season.

I don't see this as a proper WHS, similar to the Philippines' Chocolate Hills - nice to view but not that special, and would only work with the cultural mix which I don't see represented enough, especially with many of the cones already destroyed over time.

Not …

Auckland is quite a unique city geologically, being situated in the midst of a volcanic field. As a geology enthusiast, I find that non-erosion geological features are quite underrated on and off the World Heritage List, and this site is no exception. This is one of the youngest of these volcanic fields in the world, and therefore the most diverse range of volcanic features preserved, despite its location in a densely inhabited area. Indeed, a lot of scoria, a type of volcanic rock, was extracted and used in local architecture. During my 2013 trip to New Zealand, I visited Mt. Eden via the hop-on hop-off bus. Unfortunately, I hadn't reached the age of making the family itineraries and researching on destinations to know all this about Auckland when I had gone. I had, however, reached the age of rock-collecting, so Mt. Eden was one of my most vivid memories of Auckland, which was a bit forgettable after touring the rest of New Zealand. The peak rises over the city, which surrounds it closely on all sides. The rim, which is the only part accessible for tourists, is lined by road, from which one can look into the crater below. The whole mountain is made up of scoria, a volcanic stone with a pumice-like appearance but with more density. On the other hand, a great clear view of the whole metropolis reveals all the other, smaller volcanoes all around the area. In relativity, it's really quite a dense field with the …

Most countries seem to try to get some aspect of their Capital onto the WHS list if they possibly can. Auckland’s numerous volcanic remains are geologically significant and many of them also have historic value as the location of Maori settlements (or “Pa”) and continue to have cultural value to Maoris to this day. Anyone visiting Auckland should try to take in at least a few of the locations which NZ might one day propose for inscription. It won’t be difficult as some are virtually in the city centre and provide excellent views across this attractively located city as well as being interesting “outings” in their own right for both natural and cultural reasons.

This document provides a comprehensive description of the Volcano Fields nomination as included in the T List (http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/getting-involved/consultations/consultations-results/our-world-heritage/our-world-heritage-6.pdf ). But it is worth noting perhaps that the site is currently 7th in sequence for nomination amongst the 8 currently on NZ’s T List – behind Kerikeri and Waitangi which we also visited during a short visit to NZ during 2012 (see my reviews) . Whether this is due to concerns about its viability as a nomination or because of the work which still needs to be done isn’t clear. It is noteworthy that NZ hasn’t made a single nomination since it registered its revised T List back in 2007 and, before that, had made no proposals since the successful nomination of its sub-Antarctic Islands as long ago as 1998. This web site - http://www.doc.govt.nz/getting-involved/consultations/results/nz-world-heritage-sites/ states “It …