Buildings of Auckland City

Friday 29 October 2021 – Auckland.

Three months ago today Eleanor and I boarded Emirates EK004 out of Heathrow, landing in Auckland a mere 28 hours later. On arrival, along with all the other passengers, we were taken straight from the airport to spend 14 days in a managed isolation hotel. That now seems such a long time ago, and some days it feels like we’ve not left isolation in these last Three months. This week in particular has felt inordinately slow and I am bored, bored, bored, and probably getting rather boring with my boredom too. Nothing that I’m actually allowed to do really appeals that much either. 

I’ve spent too much time this week looking through posts from when I was travelling and experiencing life beyond what feels like a city-sized extension to the four walls of the flat. I guess there’s some irony in that we’ve flown half way around the world to be in a country that is now more restricted than the UK. Travel isn’t always the answer I know. I worry that experiencing different cultures, even as a privileged tourist, is going to become difficult after Covid, and yes I worry about climate change and the impact the travel sector has on the planet and local environments as well. My plan to ‘finish’ mainland SE Asia and backpack through northern Thailand, Laos and Vietnam is looking less and less likely as time goes by.

Oh well. It’s good to have dreams, but now it’s time to get back to real life.

Wednesday and Thursday this week were solidly overcast with a clean, flat grey sky which was exactly the light I wanted for taking photos of some of the newer and taller buildings in the centre of Auckland city. 

On Wednesday I spent 90 minutes walking around the western ridge of the Queen Street gully, up and around Hobson and Nelson Streets. I took the 70-200mm lens and was mainly shooting buildings from distance. On Thursday I took the same lens and spent two hours on the Eastern side, up to and around Symonds St and Grafton Rd. There are a lot of construction workers about and a small part of me wished I had done this on a Sunday as I think it would be easier to get into the lanes and narrower streets that are filled with workers on weekdays. They all seem to be out on the footpaths eating or smoking whenever I walk past. I kind of enjoyed myself, it was nice to get out and walk and I always enjoy taking photos, though I’m not overly thrilled with all the output. Interesting architecture photography is more difficult than it looks. In a break from the recent trend, there are very few trees in the below images, though I suspect there will be more coming.

I think these photos are in the order I took them in. I am offering no context or comment, but am happy to say that the more I hang about in the city the more I like it, though I still believe the council has made some poor development policy decisions over the years. I was surprised at the number of empty buildings and offices there are across the city and wonder how necessary some of this constant and disruptive construction is. 

Wednesday – images taken from the east side.

Thursday – images taken from the west side.