Auckland Botanic Gardens

About

The Botanic Gardens at Manurewa cover a large site in the south of the city and are free to enter. They're organised into themed collections rather than one continuous garden, so there's a rose garden, a native section, edible gardens and a palm collection, with African and threatened-plant areas among them. Paths are wide, sealed and flat, which makes it one of the easier large gardens in the region for prams and wheelchairs. The Sculpture in the Gardens exhibition runs across the site in alternate summers and is worth timing a visit around. There's a cafe and a visitor centre near the entrance. It absorbs a whole afternoon if you let it, or an hour if you stick to one or two collections. Best in spring and early summer, though the native section holds up year-round.