The Newmarket Park walk is behind and at the top of the shopping village of Parnell. It used to be a beautiful area of grass, mature trees and large rocks, one of the ‘hidden’ walks in Auckland. Sadly, all that has disappeared – today all that Grace and I could see was earth-moving equipment working on naked soil. So the pleasant walk we had in mind changed. We walked through the reserve opposite, then headed up to the Cathedral, then towards the Domain.

We allowed ourselves to be side-tracked when we saw the signs for Farmers Market behind the Foundation for the Blind building. When we arrived, it was all packed up – it starts at 8am and finishes at 12. We had arrived after 1pm…From there we crossed the railway line and headed back down the hill to our parked car.

We continued chatting at the cafe at Palmers Garden Centre.

It will be a long while before Newmarket Park is restored, so until then I will not be making available my walk for that area. UPDATE: Newmarket Park has been reopened. There is a children’s playground, a duck pond and public toilet facilities.

We have a selection of walks that visit Newmarket Park over at Walks from Newmarket.