Orakei Basin

A little gem just 5 min away from CBD. If you want to take your dog for a walk — definitely give it a go

Being from Christchurch and hence afraid now of every variance on the potential natural disaster scenario, I am not a fan at all of finding out that the place I am enjoying having a walk around is actually one of the volcanoes in the Auckland Volcanic Ring. (I tend to put it to the back of my mind that Auckland was in fact settled upon 55 volcanic craters) luckily this one is no longer active and last erupted 85,000 years ago. The tidal lagoon this eruption spawned is now used for everything from various outdoor pursuits to water sports by a wealth of Aucklander’s in the know.
The walking track itself is 2.88k so is a great distance for people of all fitness levels and inclinations and short enough that you won’t have any complaints from even the hardiest of exercise dodgers. I love the fact too that most of the walkway itself is over boardwalks!

Fun fact I learnt from a sign on the Orakei Basin boardwalk: Orakei Basin is a flooded volcanic crater. It always amazes me when I discover something new in one of my surrounding neighbourhoods that I feel like I should have known about. Great place to walk your dog, well constructed boardwalk which travels the majority of the basin, and there are also larger areas of grass where you can let him/​her off the lead to really stretch their legs. This place remains relatively unused, it always makes for a peaceful evening walk, lively bird population to admire, and the occasional water skier making the most of the heat left in the day.

We came here once after a night out on the town, and did the entire loop from the bush, to the train-​side walk and back again. It proved to be a lovely and refreshing walk after a night of limited sleep. The place is really popular with joggers and dog walkers, and there are a few stairs within the bush to get your heart pumping. The thing I loved most was seeing the cute little schools of fish on the bridge-​walkway adjacent to the train tracks. They would swim right up to the edge of the water, and then when they saw you, they’d dart away back under the bridge. They seemed to do this constantly as if they were playing some kinda’ fishy peekaboo type game with us. Oh! They were cute.
Word of warning — take some water with you, especially if it’s a hot day. We stupidly left our bottles in the car, and it was *hot*.

We are so lucky to have this amazing walkway in our neighbourhood! I’m actually a bit hesitant to write a review for it, because it is pretty well hidden and is one of those ‘local knowledge’ specialities.
The walkway across the water from the Meadowbank Train Station to the Orakei Train Station is a lovely easy walk (it’s straight and flat, so good for kids), and follows the train line. Very handy for all the times that the trains are cancelled and you can walk to Orakei to get the rail bus.
Both ends of this bridge link up with the Orakei Basin loop walk, that goes around the whole water area. It is a beautiful walk or run, and is mostly flat apart from some areas with very steep stairs.

Orakei Basin is a nice little area in Remuera to go for a walk. The council have recently given it a revamp putting in a walk way across the water next to the train line. This connects it to Meadowbank and continues back through into Remuera via Lucerne Road area. This little walk way is great because it’s hidden with a lot of bush making it a nice get away from the city. It is also an off-​leash dog area and a water ski area all managed by the Auckland City Council.
One thing to watch out for is that there are quite a few stairs along this track, not really making it ideal if you’re planning on taking a push chair.