Parnell Business Association - Parnell

Ever considered doing a circuit of Parnell on foot? We highly recommend it!  Park your car in Ayr St and strike out across Parnell Rd and up Domain Drive. This oak-lined entrance to The Domain is enchanting and seems somehow much older than it is.

With the museum on the crest of the hill to the left, veer right and enter the wooded area that skirts The Domain and the railway line. A few minutes along this path you’ll find the railway underpass for Parnell Station.

Go through the underpass, keep to the left of the green area alongside the empty site and go up the steps of Ngahere Tce, along Gibraltar Crescent and across Parnell Rd. You can trot down Denby Street beside St John The Baptist, the oldest Catholic church in Auckland, and turn right into Scarborough Lane. Look for the entrance between no 18 and 24 and enter the tiny, almost unknown, Scarborough Reserve. Crossing here and exiting via the walkway at the southern corner, you’ll reach St Georges Bay Rd and turn right then walk uphill and turn left into Alberon Reserve. This is one of Auckland’s most lovely small parks. Always uncrowded, and if you take the exit at the northeasterly corner, you walk through the most beautiful fernery.

Up Alberon St, take a left for 100m or so down Gladstone Rd. Before the Newton Gully motorway link was built this was the main road from the wharves and heavily laden trucks ground their way up and down it day and night.

Past Rosie Café on the left, cross the road and enter the Parnell Rose Gardens, which, officially, goes by the name of Dove-Myer Robinson Park, after a former mayor of the city. Taking the path that winds down the hill to the right you’ll walk under gigantic cypresses and reach the sunny hillside above Judges Bay.

From there, you can hit the shady pavement of St Stephens Ave, take a left down Brighton Rd, into Kenderdine Lane and enter Ayr Reserve along the walkway through the trees. Up the hill across the grass in Laurie Ave, you’ll pass Ewelme Cottage and Kinderhouse on your left and find yourself back at your parked car, just in time for coffee at the Domain Ayr Cafe on Parnell Rd.