February 26, 2025
Today we set out to explore one of Auckland’s oldest suburbs, Grafton. Today it is dominated by Auckland Hospital, surrounded by narrow streets that have not changed much since the neighborhood was established in the 1800s. The suburb is bordered on the east by what has always seemed to us to be the strangely named Khyber Pass Road. It is a not very memorable road, lined by nondescript buildings, that does not appear to have anything in common with the famous pass in Pakistan. Apparently, when it began life as a dirt track during the early settlement of Auckland in the 1840s, it was seen as a dangerous frontier along which British soldiers would travel during the wars with the Maori tribes, hence the name. Today the only dangerous thing about the road may be this adult store.
Waiting at the traffic light was the definitely the most stylish cyclist we have seen during our walks.
We liked this apartment building, although we weren’t sure how quiet it would be, nestled as it was right next to Grafton train station.
It is not uncommon, while walking through Auckland suburbs, to come across houses that used to include a small corner shop where the proprietor would also live. In fact, Mal’s grandparents used to own just such a shop and home for a while. Here is an example, which also happened to be the childhood home of one of New Zealand’s most famous artists, Max Gimlett, whose parents ran the corner shop.
There are very few old red brick homes in Auckland, because the bricks had to be imported from Britain at great expense. So, often, what looks like red bricks are actually the local pale brown bricks covered with red cement stucco with fake mortar lines. Here is an example.
Here are some other photos from the neighborhood.
Based on their impressive buildings that we have come across during our walks, the Church of Scientology appears to be doing quite well financially. The Auckland building was no exception.
Speaking of churches, we liked the, admittedly less impressive, Liberal Catholic Church of St. Francis.
Grafton includes The Auckland Domain, a 190 acre (75 hectares) park that is the home of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. We finished the day’s walk by wandering through its beautiful parkland.
Mal and Lauren 