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The Auckland metropolitan area ,
in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest
and most populous urban area in the country with
1,354,900 residents, 31 percent of the country's
population. Auckland has the largest Polynesian
population of any city in the world. In Māori
Auckland's names are Tāmaki Makaurau, and the
transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.
The 2011 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked
Auckland 3rd equal place in the world on its list,
while The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities
index of 2011 ranked Auckland in 9th place. In 2010,
Auckland was classified as a Beta World City in the
World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough
University.
Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the
Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to
the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the
south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller
ranges to the west and north-west. The central part
of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between
the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the
Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of
the few cities in the world to have harbours on two
separate major bodies of water.
Volcanoes
Auckland straddles the Auckland Volcanic Field,
which has produced about 50 volcanoes. These take
the form of cones, lakes, lagoons, islands and
depressions, and several have produced extensive
lava flows. Most of the cones have been partly or
completely quarried away. The individual volcanoes
are all considered extinct, although the volcanic
field itself is merely dormant. Auckland has at
least 14 large lava tube caves which run from the
volcanoes down towards the sea.
Unlike the explosive subduction-driven volcanism in
the central North Island, such as at Mount Ruapehu
and Lake Taupo, Auckland's volcanoes are fuelled
entirely by basaltic magma. The most recent and by
far the largest volcano, Rangitoto Island, was
formed within the last 1000 years, and its eruptions
destroyed the Māori settlements on neighbouring
Motutapu Island some 700 years ago. Rangitoto's
size, its symmetry, its position guarding the
entrance to Waitemata Harbour and its visibility
from many parts of the Auckland region make it
Auckland's most iconic natural feature. Few birds
and insects inhabit the island because of the rich
acidic soil and the type of flora growing out of the
rocky soil.
Harbours and gulf
Auckland lies on and around an isthmus, less than
two kilometres wide at its narrowest point, between
Mangere Inlet and the Tamaki River. There are two
harbours in the Auckland urban area surrounding this
isthmus: Waitemata Harbour to the north, which opens
east to the Hauraki Gulf, and Manukau Harbour to the
south, which opens west to the Tasman Sea.
Bridges span parts of both harbours, notably the
Auckland Harbour Bridge crossing the Waitemata
Harbour west of the Auckland Central Business
District (CBD). The Mangere Bridge and the Upper
Harbour Bridge span the upper reaches of the Manukau
and Waitemata Harbours, respectively. In earlier
times, portage paths crossed the narrowest sections
of the isthmus.
Several islands of the Hauraki Gulf are administered
as part of Auckland City, though they are not
officially part of the Auckland metropolitan area.
Parts of Waiheke Island effectively function as
Auckland suburbs, while various smaller islands near
Auckland are mostly zoned 'recreational open space'
or are nature sanctuaries.
Travel modes
Road and rail
Private vehicles are the main form of transportation
within Auckland, with around 7% of journeys in the
Auckland region being undertaken by bus (2006 data),
and 2% undertaken by train and ferry. Usage is
however heavily skewed towards travel to and from
the Central Business District, where more than half
of trips are undertaken by public transport.
Auckland still ranks quite low in this regard,
having only 46 public transport trips per capita per
year, while Wellington has almost twice this number
at 91, and Sydney has 114 trips. This strong roading
focus results in substantial traffic congestion
during peak times.
Bus services in Auckland are mostly radial, with few
ring-routes, due to Auckland being on an isthmus.
Late-night services (i.e. past midnight) are
limited, even on weekends.
Regular trains operating along four lines travel
between the CBD and the west, south and south-east
of Auckland, with longer-distance options scarce. In
2007 approximately NZ$5.3 billion worth of
large-scale projects were underway or planned (and
budgeted for) in the Auckland area to improve rail
and public transport patronage over the next decade,
31% of the transport budget. However, policy changes
in early 2009 by the incoming National government
have meant a shift in emphasis to more highway
construction, and have removed the provision of a
regional fuel tax that was to pay for ARTA's public
transport upgrades. While the government has
promised to fund the rail electrification, the
process and associated tenders were delayed by
approximately one year, and some rail station
upgrades and the funding of the integrated ticketing
upgrade were in doubt. The lack of future funding
also forced ARTA to hand over the Auckland region's
rail stations to government control.
Other modes
Auckland's ports are the largest of the country, and
a large part of both inbound and outbound New
Zealand commerce travels through them, mostly via
the facilities northeast of Auckland CBD. Freight
usually arrives at or is distributed from the port
via road, though the port facilities also have rail
access. Auckland is a major cruise ship stopover
point, with the ships usually tying up at Princes
Wharf. Auckland CBD is connected to coastal suburbs,
to the North Shore and to outlying islands by ferry.
Air
Auckland has various small regional airports and
Auckland Airport, the busiest of the country.
Auckland Airport, New Zealand's largest, is in the
southern suburb of Mangere on the shores of the
Manukau Harbour. There are frequent services to
Australia, and to other New Zealand destinations.
There are also direct connections to many locations
in the South Pacific, to the United States, Asia and
to Buenos Aires and Santiago in South America.
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