Mount Eden

Description

Mount Eden (Maungawhau, the 'Mountain of the Whau tree' in Māori) is the name of a volcano and surrounding suburb in Auckland City, New Zealand, situated five kilometres south of the city centre. The mountain is the highest naturalpoint in the whole of Auckland. The English name honours George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland.

The central focus of the suburb is the dormant eponymous volcano whose summit (196 metres above sea level) is the highest natural point on the Auckland isthmus. The majestic bowl-like crater is 50 metres deep. The volcano erupted several times resulting in a series of craters, with the last eruption about 60,000 years ago.

Mt Eden sees strong tourism use, as it is the highest non-manmade point in Auckland, and provides good views in all directions over the city. The large numbers of coach buses, which previously could go all the way to a parking lot on the top of the hill has been considered to have degraded the top of the cone. In August 2006, a ban on tour buses was announced. They will have to park halfway up the mountain in the future. However, this has in the meantime been partly qualified, with the vehicle ban only to be enforced when a

Thanks to Paul Carter for this description.