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Surrounded by lush green trees and less than 15 mins away from the office blocks, Grafton Valley is one of Auckland’s best-kept secrets. Tucked right in the heart of Auckland CBD and nestled within Symonds Street Cemetery , one of the oldest cemeteries in Auckland, most people rush past it every day, on the southern motorway or bus across Grafton Bridge, unaware of the peaceful escape beneath them. Grafton Valley Walkway The valley can be accessed from Symonds St by the motorway ramp or from. St. Martins Lane . It is easy to reach by public transport, with plenty of buses running from Waitematā (formerly Britomart ) and Newmarket , as the area is part of Auckland Transport’s Central Connector . If you enter through the Symonds Street entrance by the motorway ramp, you will come across the grave of William Hobson , the first Governor of New Zealand . From there, the walk continues gently through the cemetery and surrounding trees, where calm is occasionally broken by the distant hum o...

Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city. One of the best cities in the world to dwell. But sad to say,  Auckland does get a tough rap from tourists.  In the past ten years, I have seen many travellers and even some of my friends avoid Auckland or see only has a gateway to enter New Zealand or stay for a night before heading to beautiful Kiwi pastures -- Rotorua for thermal pools and the smell of Sulphur, the beaches of Bay of Island, wine and dine at Marlborough and sky diving and mesmerising landscape at Queenstown. As some of the travel bloggers have mentioned, Auckland is heartless and soulless. Let me tell you Auckland is not that bad   Here is the list of best things I love about Auckland. 1. Walkable CBD If you are living in Auckland, you don't need your own car to get around the city centre and nearby suburbs of Ponsonby, Parnell, Newmarket, Mt. Eden, One Tree Hill and Remuera. These localities are well-connected to CBD by public transport. If you...

Every year at AUT University in collaboration with AuSM organised a diversity week to celebrate diversity in action in our everyday life. We live in a diverse society. Every person you meet at university or in the workplace is different. Since the day I came to New Zealand, this great diversity has impacted the way I communicate and interact with people. I find myself lucky to live in this beautiful city where people from different parts of the world come and live together in peace and harmony. Many migrants who are living in Auckland today come from a country faced with conflicts, both internal and external. According to Statistics New Zealand, in 2013, there were almost 1 in 4 people that are 23.1 percent people living in Auckland region identified with one or more Asian ethnic groups, compared with 1 in 5 people that is 18.9 percent, in 2006. We have all heard from media sources, the majority of conflict today is happening in Asia.  Every nation is plagued with numerous pro...

On the night of 24th August 2013 when I was walking with my friend Calvin on Anzac Avenue. We saw two people arguing & swearing at each other. As we approach them, we decided to cross the road to avoid any trouble. But then I saw two people actually fighting on the middle of the streets. Immediately I reach out to my cellphone and call the cops - 111. I was talking very furiously with the police caller.  Surprisingly, the conversation lasted less than a minute, usually it takes around 20 mins.   Operator: Where do you want to get connect to, Police, Ambu....(Interrupted) (Speaking furiously to the operator) Me: Police Please! Operator: You are connecting to the #police now. (Few milliseconds later...) Police Caller: Where is the emergency? Me: 72 Anzac Avenue, Auckland Police Caller: What is the emergency? Me: Two people fighting on streets Police Caller: What is your name? Me: Ashish Bijwe Police Caller: Can you please spell it? Me: A S H I S ...

My most memorable hospitality experience was when I first started to serve the guests in our church, the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, in 2009. Before that, I was not really a hospitable person, even though I am from India, a very hospitable country. In India, as soon as the guest arrives, the host serves that person water and then asks for their food or drink preferences.  This hospitality is based on the principle “Atithi Devo Bhava”, meaning “the guest is God”.  Indian people treat their guests with proper warm hospitality, which certainly requires extreme care and attention.  In fact, we are even friendly and hospitable to strangers on the road.  If anyone asks us for directions, we will likely not only tell them where to go, but also accompany them to their destination, especially when the place is nearby  Yet, despite these good hospitable qualities, I never fully understood the relationship between the host and the guest.  I was not really a people...

Community Get-together: One social event like birthday party can help you to forget all the differences you have with your neighbours. It’s a real magic, a miracle. The one beautiful moment changes bitter thoughts in our minds into wonderful evening. It’s a miracle in 21 st Century. But who believes in miracles these days? Well, I do. This one beautiful miracle happened with me on the night 10 th May 2013. After my exam, when I went back to my hostel, Vadim the Russian boy one of my hostel mate was cooking in the kitchen. He approach me and said, “Ashish, I forgot to tell you but today is my birthday…..and I want to give small party, I will be cooking delicious Russian food in the evening at 7pm.” I said, Ok I will join and went to my room for relax. At 7pm, the most memorable event took place, after a long gap I was having a dinner with my hostel mates.  Something I had given up cause of differences between me and other people.  It was wonderful time, s...

Owning a car is matter of necessity and convenience. But convenience comes at a price. Even though the parking is free, it's only for limited time. So even if we want to spend more time talking or playing social games in a coffee shop or restaurant with friends, we can't extend the time limit unless we are willing to order more.  Last night after evening church service, some of us decided to go to Denny's for extended fellowship. As some of us owns a car, we decided to go back cars instead of walking 3 km . We knew there is a car park at Denny's but didn't knew the fact that we are only allowed for one and half hours. The parking voucher is available with the manager of Denny's.   Just before the time limit was about to expired I went to the manager to check if we are allowed to extend the time limit, so that we could spend more time talking or playing games with friends. Even though I don't own a car, spending time with friends is a magic of the moment...

28 th February 2012 10:30PM Tonight my friend Calvin and Reshmi and I were on our way to Hulucat Teahouse when we witnessed an act of robbery. We were walking along St. Paul Street. I was just talking to Reshmi about how dangerous  St. Paul Street is during the night time. I told her about the events happened on that street. The next moment we heard some screaming for HELP! I turned back and started walking to check what was going on, and then suddenly a girl who was running away with a bag bumped into my friend Calvin. The bag fell onto the footpath. Another girl who was the victim came running behind her she picked up her bag. I grabbed robber's jacket with one hand and with other hand I got my cellphone to call the cops. In meantime we were joined by other people who also heard the scream. The thief took her Jacket off that I was holding and tried to run away. We saw a car passing by, people inside the car opened the passenger door for her.  B...

Silo Park @ Wynyard Quarter "The Gantry" reminds me of Jurassic Park ;)  The Beautiful view of Auckland City from Wynyard Quarter. Those cranes are  constructing the new ASB Building  North Wharf the new hotspot to hang out with friends The "Karanga" means Welcome in Maori language is the main entrance of  Wynyard Quarter from Viaduct Harbour  Wynyard Crossing & Beautiful Auckland City dressed in Christmas Lights Queen's Wharf & Cloud after Rugby World Cup looks so deserted.  I hope they don't take it down  View of Viaduct Harbour from Queen's Wharf

“The Gantry” at the Wynyard Quarter. It is fun to walk along and up and down and there good views and photo opportunities of the Auckland Harbour and Auckland City Paper Angels on Gantry at Wynyard Quarter Decorated for the Christmas The Telecom Tree at Te Wero Island  Inside of Telecom Tee Sky Tower, Telecom Tree & Xmas Tree on the Yacht

MOTAT (Musuem of Tranpsort & Technology) http://www.motat.org.nz The Tram Stop, the old tram of Auckland will take you to MOTAT 2 where  you can see the history of airplanes  and Royal NZ Airforce Old Winding Clock at MOTAT Tram Stop Main Entrance of MOTAT Western Springs Pumping Station was once used to supply drinking water to  Auckland  from the springs near by.  This are oldest working steam driven electricity generator to operate the pump  Edward Hillary's Antarctic Vehicle Old Printing Shop Old British Petroleum Gas Station Weird steering of mobile milk and bread truck Wheels of Creativity ;) Foursquare Convenience Store < Victorian Village The Last Tram of Auckland before it was reintroduced in MOTAT & newly developed waterfr...