If you had asked me a few months ago about where to stay or even park if you wanted to watch the America’s Cup. The answer would have been easy just stay at Z Pier in Westhaven. I wrote about this a couple of years ago and it remains one of my most popular blog posts. The only problem is it’s been closed to motorhomes and campervans for a couple of months now.

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What was a fantastic place to stay has lost out to the requirement for additional boat trailer parking. As well as the redevelopment of the Westhaven Marina. So what do you do now? if your campervan is small enough to fit into a standard carpark then there are plenty of options. But what do you do if you have a motorhome that measures in excess of 7 metres. You certainly don’t want to temp fate with the parking wardens in Auckland being amongst the most active in the country.

While I was stuck in Auckland hospital I had a wonderful view down towards the harbour. It was from here that I noticed a couple of motorhomes parking in the Wilson carpark just off Stanley Street. (as per map above) So this morning we decided to go and investigate thinking this info might be useful to others, planning a trip to Auckland.

Being honest about the place it’s nothing much more than a gravel carpark next to quite a busy road. But the major advantage it does have is that there are almost no marked spaces so you could easily fit a large motorhome into this area. Especially at the weekend when the carpark is empty and also cheaper ($6 for 12 hours). According to Google maps it’s then less than a ten minute walk to the Team New Zealand base. Although the signage says nothing about motorhomes being allowed to stay here. The price board shows that you can pay for a 24 hour stay and as I said I have seen motorhomes staying here. Certainly there would be nothing stopping you parking here for a few hours while you went exploring.

Talking about exploring, part of the Auckland cycle trail runs right past this parking area. From here it’s easy to head to all parts of Auckland including the cup village.

I couldn’t write this short blog about the village without actually visiting the place. At 10am on New Years morning (when we visited) the place was deserted. This gave me a chance to take a photo of the signage that would probably have otherwise been overrun with tourists.

Of course getting there that early also means that everything other than some of the cafe’s was closed. We do however plan on revisiting once racing actually gets back underway on January 15th.

The Viaduct area is a great place to stretch the legs and explore. It also gave me the chance to find the boat that will replace our motorhome. I just need to find $400 million and change to be able to afford it. I found online that this boat is the 122nd largest super yacht afloat. Also that there are around 130 super yachts due to arrive in the country. Super Yachts are allowed to self quarantine upon arrival, the only type of boat that is. In an interesting twist if the owners don’t arrive with the boat they are currently forbidden to enter the country, unless NZ Citizens.

If you are coming to Auckland for the cup or need to visit someone at the hospital then remember this place. I should warn you that Wilson’s Parking are demons for enforcing fines if you overstay what you have paid for, so ensure you either download their App or pay for a little extra. Just incase you get carried away wandering around.

To view the places we have visited click here to see them on Google maps. You can then click the link to read the blog about that area.

To view our Campground Ratings system, that we have done for places we have stayed click here