Mount Wellington Domain

After having worked near this beast of a mountain for over a year, And after a talk with Alex D about what things u you should do in this super city of ours, I was prompted to check out Mt Wellington .
Maungarei /​Mount Wellington was used as a pā, and its flanks, particularly on the eastern side, are covered in food storage pits and terraced house sites.
That wee fact above pasted from Wiki was just as amazing to me, I had no idea it was a pā site .
I’m guessing you need to be a athlete of sorts to run up it as I’ve seen many do, however that was a non option for me today, I will try to tackle that in the future though. With views for as far as you can see !! And a great place for a picnic .
If you have visitors from overseas bring them here ! Way less crowds than Mt Eden and One Tree Hill.

Mount Wellington is the most sinister of the «mountains» around Auckland (cynical South Islanders, chuckle now). If it wasn’t the model for Maurice Gee’s terrifying Under the Mountain, it should have been. I shudder just to look at it.
If you like, you can drive up it. Or, if you’re a sadist, run up it. At the top is a rest stop with room for approximately 1.5 cars, overlooking Panmure (not the most visually spectacular of the Auckland suburbs), and on the other side, the old quarry, which now has a pretentious name because they are infilling it with ticky-​tacky houses that all look the same as the others (which I’ve heard is a real challenge when you come home slightly tipsy — lots of knocking on the neighbours’ doors and apologies ensue).

If you are looking for something to do with a tourist on a sunny day, and you are not close to Mt Eden or One Tree Hill, then grab a burger at Wendy’s and drive up Mt Wellington. It’s a windy little road getting up there, and only in one direction (just as well, because it’s a steep slide down the hill!).
Once you get to the top, there’s quite a bit of parking so you can eat your burger and look over the top of Auckland. It’s nice looking over to the other major volcanic hills as well, and amazing to see how much development has gone on in Stonefields. There isn’t a lot to do up here though — there’s not many places to picnic, and not really anywhere interesting to walk around.

Mt Wellington is another of Auckland’s many volcanoes, and like the others, it has some pretty cool views from the top. You can drive pretty much to the summit; only a short walk will take you to the very top. From the summit you can see a 360 degree panorama of Auckland, including the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto, as well as the city centre and the old quarry directly below (which has recently been redeveloped into housing). It gets pretty windy up here sometimes (as you might expect when you’re on top of a mountain) so make sure to bring a jacket in the cooler months. There are a few picnic tables up here too if you feel like having a bit of a view with your lunch. Mt Wellington is not quite as breathtaking as Mt Eden though.