February 12, 2021
On an idyllic sunny day we went on a long walk through the neighborhoods that surround our house. We started out walking though St. Mary’s Bay and past the College it is named for.
St. Mary’s is a Catholic girls’ high school with around 1,000 students. Established in 1850 it is the oldest existing school in central Auckland.
We then headed down Jacob’s ladder, a set of stairs that dates back to the late 1800s. They are named for the famous biblical ladder that Jacob dreams about in the Book of Genesis. “And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!”
At the bottom of the stairs is Jacobs Ladder Bridge which spans the Auckland Northern Motorway and connects St. Mary’s Bay to Westhaven Marina.
The bridge, opened in 2012, is clad in a golden-color mesh and is designed to be reminiscent of maori fishing nets or fish traps.
Auckland is sometimes called the City of Sails, and when you walk along Westhaven Marina it is easy to see why.
Walking along the newly constructed boardwalk from the city to the harbour bridge is a great way to see the yachts.
Walking under the bridge we continued along the waterfront and up into Herne Bay, one of Auckland’s most affluent neighborhoods. Named after Herne Bay, an English seaside resort in Kent, it consists primarily of marine villas and Edwardian age homes, but there are a variety of other styles as well, including modern and deco buildings.
Running along the edge of Herne Bay is Jervois Road, the home of a number of trendy stores and restaurants. More traditionally, there is also this classic New Zealand dairy.
For those non-kiwis reading this, dairies are small owner-operated convenience stores, selling groceries, newspapers, etc. They are called dairies because they originally were licensed to sell perishables such as milk and eggs that were delivered to the shops from dairy farms.
Mal and Lauren 