Yet every year, more than 1.2 million people and 270,000 vehicles flock to Mt Eden’s 196m high summit.
They come to stand on the Auckland isthmus’ highest volcano and peer into its 50m deep crater.
Its Maori name, Maungawhau, means “mountain of the whau”; referring to a shrub-like plant which grows there.
A pa, possibly dating back as far as 1200AD, once perched on top of Maungawhau. The Waiohua tribe who lived in the area had to constantly fight off enemy tribes, as the fertile Auckland land was much coveted.
In the early 1700s, Waiohua’s temperamental leader, Kiwi Tamaki, travelled north for a tangi at Kaipara and murdered some chiefs. Unsurprisingly, war was declared and the Waiohua people were defeated.
When Kiwi Tamaki was killed after yet another battle, it was the beginning of the end for the Maungawhau pa. Soon destroyed, a tapu was placed on the mountain. Only a few remnants of this fortification remain today.
European settlers were farming in the area by the 1800s and families set up homes to get away from the bustle of the inner city.
The first road to Maungawhau’s summit was built in 1869 for a visit from the Duke of Edinburgh, and shortly after, the Crown decreed the mountain a public recreation reserve.
By the 20th century, houses were rapidly replacing farmland at the foot of Maungawhau. The suburb of Mt Eden, with its prime location near Auckland’s Central Business District, grew frantically. Flats, townhouses and bungalows shot up to match the massive population surge.
The mountain’s volcanic stone proved ideal for building roads, and convicts from Mt Eden prison were employed to construct new roads in the area. New trains and tram lines also quickened the pace of life in the village.
It didn’t take long for Mt Eden to become the established and gentrified locale that it remains today.