Auckland Marathon 2013: A Day in Auckland

I will only be spending a day in Auckland other than the marathon day as my wife and I were here for a few days for our honeymoon. I am only here for the day to pick up my race packet. Here was the walking route I took:

The first place I went was to the lobby of the observation desk at the top of Skycity. Skycity is a casino complex that sits adjacent to the skycity tower, which can be seen from anywhere in Auckland. This is the tallest free standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. I do not think it counts as a building.

The ground floor lobby for the observation deck and other activities relating to the spire is in the basement underneath the tower. Below is a picture of the escalator down to the lobby.

My wife and I have been up the tower the last time we were here so I took a quick tour of the gift shop before continuing to the packet pickup. GlenGarry is a large wine store that also offers wine tasting. We went there a few years ago on our first visit.

Below is pictures of Victoria park from Halsey Street. This is where the finish area will be but today, the day before the marathon, it was empty.

I am walking north on Halsey street with the view of the Marina that is inside of the Viaduct Basin. This is only a few blocks from the packet pickup.

Here you have a great view of Skycity Tower.

The below pictures shows the expo hall that the marathon expo is taking place. It is right in Halsey Wharf and marked with a red X on the first Google Maps picture.

In my next post, I will cover the Auckland Marathon Expo.

Nearby is the facility where New Zealand’s America’s Cup team was being housed before the competition two months ago. I wasn’t able to go in but there were still two stores still selling NZ America’s Cup merchandise in the nearby area.

That day, there was a charity event “Paddle For Hope.” I can’t remember what the charity funds.

There is a pedestrian bridge that goes over the Viaduct, which was pretty nice.

Below was an exhibit of an older America’s Cup boat. The sheer size of it was massive.

Below is the ferry Terminal in Auckland. This is the ferry that I will need to take to Davenport for the Auckland Marathon, but they also have many other ferries, including the one we took to Waiheke Island three years ago. From the last picture you can see the Cruise Terminal just adjacent to the ferry terminal.

The marathon would run through here. This is where mile 14 would start and its an out and back course for the back half of the marathon, with the finish line about 1/2 mile away from the ferry terminal.