Auckland's Volcanoes Hiding in Plain Sight
Several of Auckland's volcanoes sit right under the central city, so worn down or built over that most people walk across them without realising. Albert Park, the Grafton area and the Auckland Domain are all volcanic.
Which volcanoes are hidden in the city?
More than most people expect. The Auckland Volcanic Field runs straight through the central city, and several of its cones and craters have been so reshaped by building that they barely read as volcanoes anymore. The Albert Park Volcano, the Grafton Volcano and Pukekawa, now the Auckland Domain, are all volcanic features hiding under everyday parks and streets. You can walk over a volcano in the CBD without knowing it.
Albert Park
The rise that Albert Park sits on, at the top of the city, is a volcano. The cone has been heavily modified over the years, landscaped into the formal Victorian park you see today, with tunnels dug beneath it during the Second World War. Little of its volcanic shape is obvious now, but the high ground it provides, and the views from it, are the cone underneath doing its work.
The Auckland Domain (Pukekawa)
Auckland's oldest park is built in and around a volcano. Pukekawa erupted to form a broad crater, and the flat sportsfields in the middle of the Domain sit within it, ringed by the higher ground where the museum and gardens stand. It is one of the clearest examples once you know to look, a whole volcanic crater turned into a city park.
How to spot a hidden cone
Look for the shape under the city. A sudden rise of high ground in an otherwise flat area, a round park or sportsground ringed by higher land, a street that curves around a hill for no obvious reason. Many of Auckland's place names also give it away, since a Mount or a Hill in the name often marks a cone, even where the cone itself has been smoothed into suburbia.
Find the volcanoes under the city
Volcanic AKL maps the whole field, including the worn-down and built-over cones most people miss. Works offline as you walk the city.
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