Welcome to Auckland’s original ‘Municipal Destructor’. Everyone, like me, know it as Victoria Park Market – a super popular open air market through the 80's to 2000's – a great place to buy your crystals and tie-dies etc! I've always known that it was originally the city rubbish dump – when the city was waaaay smaller). There is more to the story, of course. It was originally created in reaction to a bubonic plague scare in Sydney. For sanitary reasons it was built to burn Auckland’s rubbish and waste while using the heat generated to provide electricity to power the city. Sounds pretty clever eh, and I guess we were plague free. However, we must have been breathing some seriously toxic smoke fumes! That 38 metre tall chimney must have helped a little but don't forget all the horse manure and night carts, they were definitely smellier times. The municipal destructor is now a gentrified place that's home to restaurants and businesses, like the superb Milenta restau...
We got the kids on their bikes and cycled down to Arch Hill for the official opening of Aucklands first inner city mountain bike track (perhaps 4 kms from down-town Auckland). It's been bucketing down here lately, so thankfully the sun was out long enough for a good turn out to enjoy the free sausage sizzle and a blast around the tracks. On offer are two tracks - one for the kids called 'Trainer Wheels' and 'Twist and Shout' for the slightly more advanced. I was pretty impressed – Nice work Auckland City and Auckland Mountain Bike Club!
www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/places/parksonline/detai...
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Love the header of your blog by the way.