Daily Photo – Navigating Te Komititanga Square in the Rain
To escape the heavy rain, I’d been at the New Zealand Maritime Museum in Auckland, located adjacent to the Viaduct Basin, and I was now heading back to my hotel. As the rain continued to fall, I came across Te Komititanga square where, among other things, stands the grand and ornate former Chief Post Office.
The building operates as a train station servicing the greater Auckland area, but it began life as one of the most important buildings in the country when it was officially opened in 1912 by then Prime Minister William Massey in front of a crowd of 8,000–10,000 people. The fact that it was located next to the harbour ferries, railway station, tram terminus, and commercial wharves shows just how important the postal service was at that time.
I’d read that it was recently transformed to service part of the Auckland train network; inside, you can see the original century-old stained-glass domes along with a massive 14-metre-long hand-blown glass chandelier that hangs in the main space, which really is quite impressive. The area immediately outside the building has been turned into a large pedestrian plaza that acts as a connection to the city, as people come and go from the station and head into the city and surrounding business and shopping areas or link up with the ferry terminals at the nearby wharves.
It also acts as a spot where you can take photos while standing in the rain, getting odd looks from people as you get extremely wet and then re-orient yourself to work out in what direction your hotel might be!
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