Aotea Square is a large paved public area mnext to Queen Street. It was opened in 1979 by Sir Dove-Myer Robinson and was renovated in 2010. It is used for open air concerts,gatheries,markets and rallies

This square is Auckland's center for political discourse, protest rallies and various
demonstrations, as well as being the primo location for concerts and markets and parades. Maybe its close-cousins would be Athens' Parliament Square (where we have been during demonstrations) or even Washington D.C.'s Great Mall or Istanbul's Taksim Square (yup, been there during a demonstration too). Every major city surely has a place where people congregate for a number of reasons to raise their collective voices. This is Auckland's center.

Nothing volatile going on while we visited one brief weekend in February. And we are totally fine with that. We observed families watching carefully as their little tots took to their kiddie-wheels, hotties strutted their stuff, tourists grabbed on to anything that looked to make a good photo op and raised their hands in those ridiculous peace sign /victory poses (??? what is up with that anyway???), and the square was bouncing to life. Time for us to grab our grub and giddy-up back to the hotel.

The center of the square features an absolutely beautiful and intricate arch, Maori style. The arch motif is a common element in Maori culture. This particular piece was crafted by a Maori artist/sculptor and features fishes, birds, the moon, stars, small Maori vessels (everything filled with Maori symbolism), and a beautiful (Haiku) poem inscribed in the arch: "stop your snivelling creekbed, come rain, hail, and flood water, laugh again." The "snivelling" part spoke to me: shake it off (or so says Taylor Swift) and get on with life. Or so I heard anyway.

Each of us takes away something different and I feel quite certain that there is an entire college course taught in deciphering the hidden meaning to this haiku and all those delightful undercurrents of "what does this mean anyway?" Maybe I need to take that course. But as the tourists, "we takes them as we finds them" and feel the connection in our souls between this remote ancient culture and our own highly over- commercialized and interconnected selves. Sigh. Enough said.

Around the square is a statue dedicated to a founding father. He looks to be a Sonny Bono look-alike: both so dimunitive in stature but good things come in small packages (proven time and time again). You can't miss the statue, just look for those tourists wrapping themselves around the dude, all holding up those two fingers raised in (what?) triumph or conquest or victory sign ... this just escapes me. I am still mightily confounded. We normally try to stay completely clear of these remonstrations (and these people).

So, the square is front and center in the heart of the CBD and also the location for good eats and lots of fun (go to Sky World for some good entertainment and multi-ethnic eats and maybe bowl a game or two). The square is close to the university and that alone seems like enough to light the fuse of whatever cause is the cause du jour.

We love Auckland for its vibrancy, its multiculturism, its vitality, and its diversity. This (Aotea) square is home base for Auckland's pulse and its heart.