A short ferry hop to a Victorian seaside village with two small volcanoes: one with the best view of the city skyline there is, the other riddled with tunnels, gun pits and searchlight bunkers built against a Russian invasion that never came.
Devonport sits on a peninsula across the harbour from downtown, a village of wooden villas, bookshops and cafés guarded by two grassy volcanic cones, Takarunga and Maungauika.
Takarunga / Mount Victoria rises 87 metres behind the main street, with a gun emplacement, an old signal station and a 360-degree view: the city towers across the water, Rangitoto, the gulf islands and the yachts in the channel.
Maungauika / North Head, at the harbour mouth, was fortified in the 1880s during a scare about Russian warships and kept in use through both world wars. Today you can wander its tunnels, gun pits, searchlight positions and a restored disappearing gun, which popped up to fire and sank back to reload. Bring a torch for the tunnels. Two small volcanoes, the 1880s coastal defences, and the best view of the city skyline there is.
An easy loop with plenty of reasons to stop.
Walk up Victoria Road past the villas and cafés towards the green cone ahead.
Climb the paths to the summit for the full sweep of the city and harbour.
Descend and walk along quiet streets towards North Head, past Cambria Reserve, the remnant of a third volcano.
Explore the tunnels with a torch, find the disappearing gun, and look out over the harbour entrance.
Drop to Cheltenham Beach for a swim facing Rangitoto, then walk back along the waterfront to the wharf.
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Ferries leave the downtown terminal for Devonport every 15–30 minutes, about 12 minutes each way.
North Head reserve opens daily from early morning to evening; the tunnels close at dusk.
Both summits are tūpuna maunga, ancestral mountains: stay on paths and off the earthworks.
Auckland practical notes →
The island you've been looking at.
Across the isthmus over two cones.
Waterfall and surf beach.
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West coast clifftops.
The gulf's wild outer island.
Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences.
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