This is one of the most beautiful green spaces I've ever seen in my life. I thoroughly enjoyed…read morewandering through the grounds of the domain. Especially the greenhouses. I wanted to stay in those spaces, smell all the flowers, touch all the plants, and pick some of the very ripe fruits and vegetables. I admit to smelling some flowers and touching a few plants, but no fruits or veggies were at risk. Highly recommend the Auckland Domain if you are in Auckland. It's free, beautiful, and walking it is great exercise. It's made of win.

Green lawns, ball fields, gazebos with live music, clean public restrooms, unique trees & shrubs,…read moreendless trails with lots of benches & a very nice day. I loved the trees, I expected to see a Hobbit crawl out. We were walking to the museum & then back to our hotel. We passed pristine rolling hills, a bowling center, tennis center, Olympic aquatic center .... Many were biking, walking, jogging and enjoying the green space. There is a botanic garden near the museum.

I play indoor netball here and everything is well organised. Once you've set up your team you can…read morepay your fee weekly or in a lump sum. Then you show up, put on clean bibs that you don't even have to wash yourself afterwards and play some sweet netball (sweet? I totally mean sweaty) with a referee that has also been organised for you. Basically you can just turn up and play! There are tables, chairs and a couple of couches to hang out at before your game or collapse into afterwards. There are toilets in the building as well. Conveniently located across the road is a park with courts if you want to practice/warm-up before the game, although there are only baskethall hoops and it's often very busy with others playing social sports and families hanging out.

Indoor Netball is not just for girls. No, no, no. It's fierce, fast and even at social level, super…read morecompetitive. I play in a mixed team once a week at Balmoral and love it. The competition is well graded, usually the games are very close. They are well organised, everything runs extremely smoothly. I can't even moan about the refs, they are focused (which isn't always the case with social sport) and fair. It's not too expensive, and it's a really fun way to break up the week while getting a mega fitness kick. The Balmoral courts are small and the venue has a laid back community feel

This year I was proud to take part in the 11th Annual Coastal Challenge. The start of the challenge…read morestarted as far north as Arkles Bay in Whagaparoa 33 km from the finish line of Windsor Reserve in Devonport. I however did not do the full monty option as they call it, and instead opted for a more achievable distance for a first time challenge; the 6km run/walk from Hauraki corner of Takapuna beach to Devonport. I was very pleased with the course, I joined hundreds of the people race towards the finish and it was a thrill and success to take part in such a worthy cause, the charity partner Hospice North Shore, use all money raised from the coastal challenge to support the community palliative care team. The challenge is also divided into age categories : under 20, 20-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60 plus. The events to choose from we're 6km,11km,17km, 22km, and 33km. You can either run or walk. The course included racing along the beach, climbing along rocks and occasionally getting a bit wet, but nothing over the knee. I know that the larger distances definitely include some water time. Views were just sensational along the way of Rangitoto, and all the beautiful beaches from Takapuna to Narrowneck. I look forward to challenging my distance next year with a few more km's.

Both my wife and I are very keen bowlers here back in the UK, so when visiting our friends in…read moreAuckland, we could not resist the temptation to bowl at Ponsonby Bowls Club to see how bowling greens were there, compared to ours here. The greens are all weather and very similar to our indoor greens. We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon and although no other Ponsonby bowls members were there, Tash and the Bowls New Zealand staff who are housed in the same complex looked after us and made us very welcome.

We came here for an end of year work function and boy, was it a laugh and a half. We all dressed up…read morein bowling gear and got our game faces on. It's awesome because the actual Bowling Club members showed us how to play and they were great to hang out with. A big plus is that the alcohol is rather cheap and you can bring your own food. We had a huge BBQ with salads and snacks, it was a brilliant way to spend a beautiful summers afternoon. We also were allowed to sign up to the club, so we can go back and play again at any time. One thing to note, no stilettos on the field, they are very, very protective of it.

Te Pai Courts used to be a shit hole. It was just the outdoor courts with hardly any parking and an…read moreold ugly as building filled with cranky middle aged women upset at the world because they aren't championship netball players. These days, those women are still there, but instead Te Pai looks great with a new centre that is modern, spacious,a full parking lot, and plays host to a bunch of courts and also some tennis courts that are on the other side of the parking lot. Come any Saturday morning and you'll have tons of school kids playing early morning netball, anywhere from eight in the morning. They host social netball here too if you ever want to get a team together, but it's pretty expensive. On Saturdays they've got drinks and hot food for sale, and it's always great to see young Kiwi kids out there playing sport, getting fit and having fun.

I played for College Rifles a while back and it was during the development phase of re-building a…read morefew things at the clubrooms. I actually loved it back then and it seems to have improved since! College Rifles is home to many sports and the facilities reflect that. They've got great astro turf pitches (suitable for most grass sports) that they've had for three years now, which is proving to be a good investment- they're also available for hire for non-club members. The indoor grass training area behind the clubrooms is great and I've been spectator to a few of the games the younger boys had on wet-weather training days. The netball and squash courts also add to the long list of what makes this multi-purpose venue so darn good. The clubrooms are a great post-game hangout on Saturdays for a quiet drink or the beginning of your night. College Rifles is a great club to play for and I'd recommend it to anyone keen on team sports, or take a visit down to the clubrooms and check what they have to offer- which is just about everything you could want from a sports club.

Apparently, this club has a reputation around Auckland for being the "posh club," the one that is…read morefull of well to do Remuerians (yeah, totally just made that word up) and all a bit la-de-da. However, I'm pleased to announce that (in my humble experience at least) it's not like that at all. Everyone I've come across since joining one of College Rifles many sports teams has been lovely. Perhaps the reason the club's reputation precedes it like this is because the facilities here are really good. It's obviously a well looked after club, you can see that straight away from the pristine rugby and hockey pitches on view as you pull into the car park...Speaking of which, one of the things about the place that I'm very grateful of is it's ample amounts of parking. There's also a great social aspect to the club too, with a bar and bistro onsite that is used for occasions in the sporting calendar such as award ceremonies and prize givings for each of the teams. I really can't fault this place; it has everything you could possibly need in a multi-sports club, including a fitness suite and indoor and outdoor synthetic grass training areas, so almost any sport is available to get involved in.

Played netball here for years…read more It is a great place to play social sports. My low rating is due to the facilities. They are a sports venue and don't even have a drinking fountain. You used to be able to fill up your water bottle from an outdoor tap, the handle on this tap has since been removed. For a place to play sports not to have a place to full up your drink bottles aside from the warm toilet taps is just not good enough.

I play netball here as well as the Balmoral Courts. Like most sports centres, the staff here are…read morereally laidback and they've got a full bar stocked with drinks, water and Powerade plus some nice cold beer and ciders for after your match. This place is a few bucks more expensive than the Balmoral courts, and the place does get really hot because there's not much ventilation, but they do have a few fans running around the place. There are three courts, and I know on certain nights they run indoor cricket as well as indoor netball. The refs are nice and so far they've been pretty fair with their calls. It would be a great place if they just invested in some air conditioning, because, as I mentioned before, it does get really, really hot in there. Make sure you invest in some shorts and singlets before creating a team!

The best thing about watching the Olympics is discovering how truly badass some sports can be,…read moreespecially when they are shown in slow motion. Table Tennis was the one that really grabbed me during the Beijing Olympics, watching the massive variance in body shapes as they played out some jaw dropping games. After playing for a while in my friends garage, we decided to venture out to the open tournament night that is run at the Auckland Table Tennis Association on Wednesdays. It costs 7 dollars to enter, and is run very well. It runs on a ladder system, where you play to 21 points, whoever wins moves one table up. Unfortunately, despite all the practice I had put in, I was completely dominated, with the final humiliation coming at the hands of a 13 year old with "learning disabilities." The stadium is also open for individuals, with table and bat hire available at 15 dollars an hour. The facilities are basic, but the space itself does what it is set up to - provide an arena for table tennis.