Auckland

The city and harbor

Auckland is New Zealand's largest city, having a population approaching 1,300,000. By virtue of its unique location astride a narrow neck of land between two harbours, the city is almost surrounded by water. On the north and Pacific side is the Waitemata Harbour, while the Manukau Harbour is on the south and Tasman side. A notable feature of Auckland's landscape is the numerous extinct volcanic cones which rise above the skyline–Mount Eden, Mount Hobson, Mount Albert, One Tree Hill, and Mount Wellington. Rangitoto Island, also an extinct volcano, stands as a sentinel at the entrance of the Waitemata Harbour. Through north and south the city extends for 20 miles–from the east coast bays on the North Shore, and over the Harbour Bridge to the dormitory suburbs of Papatoetoe, Papakura, and Manurewa, south of the city. The city has a far-ranging importance as the chief centre for the rich farming land of the Waikato to the south and of the lesser developed Northland to the north. Even greater is its importance as a manufacturing centre, port, and centre of overseas communications.

References

Statistics New Zealand
Encyclopaedia of New Zealand