Seattle vs Auckland

From Awesome David

It has been fascinating driving around Seattle and comparing or contrasting this great city to our great city Auckland. I have been struck by the many similarities - from volcanism to culture - but also the distinct differences. Here are some of them:

Auckland's Mission Bay from the harbour on an overcast day

• They are Pacific cities: much is made about the fact that the city is coastal and lies on the Ring of Fire (a tectonic plate boundary with the Pacific plate). Volcanic mountains abound and there are local populated islands that are part of the city. Also, Seattle contains a diverse populace, consistent with the fact that immigration from other Pacific nations has occurred. There is a sizable Japanese and Korean group, and lesser sized groups indigenous to Samoa and New Zealand

Logan and Jonty in the Burke Museum at Washington University

Seattle skyline from Gasworks Park on a sunny day

• They both have a waterfront skyline: the SkyTower and other distinctive buildings make up the Auckland skyline; however, Seattle had the Space Needle well before the SkyTower, and while it's not as tall as the SkyTower, our SkyTower has never had a children's cartoon based off it! (The Space Needle created for the 1968 World Fair was the inspiration for 'The Jetsons')

• The rainy weather: Auckland is known for its changeable weather. On any given day, there is a 70% chance of rain and most days do experience a bit of rain. Seattle is also renowned for its rain. It has rain forest on some of the surrounding islands and receives rain for seven months of the year. We have been very fortunate in our days here as we've only experienced rain on one day. (Even then, it burnt off into a beautiful sunny day)

It rained when we visited Google

• The wildlife: the first of our differences is not surprising. The vast majority of trees are conifers and the rest are deciduous, like most of North America; and there are native mammals, like squirrels, that abound. This is totally different to New Zealand. Enough said!

• The city experienced a great fire: the success of the city can largely be attributed to a large fire that started in a cabinet-makers factory. We've heard of the great fires of San Francisco and Chicago, but many cities in the late 1800's experienced great fires - Seattle was one of them. The port had originally been built for the lumber trade, and so unsurprisingly most of the buildings were wooden. The great fire wiped out over 30 city blocks of commercial buildings; though no-one was killed and no residential areas were affected. It was rebuilt in stone and attracted thousands - right about the time of the Klondike gold rush.

A lamppost remembering the great fire

•  The downtown market: a clever entrepreneur, Pike, decided to build community by establishing a downtown market for the sale of fresh produce. This area extends close to the waterfront and is a bustling place of noise and activity as fishmongers, grocers and flower arrangers go about their work each day. It is really attractive to tourists as it is relatively low cost and is a lot of fun. Additionally, it is really special the way that the piers on the waterfront have retained much of their original charm. Auckland needs a market like this.

  

  Eliza and Jonty in Pikes Market

• The city is named after a chief: originally Seattle was named Duwamps after the local Duwamis first nations tribe. The Europeans had fought brutally against this tribe, after the Duwamis became concerned with the effect that the immigrants were having on timber and salmon stocks and took action. Later, the city was named after their chief, Seattle, and the man and his words of wisdom are honoured in the centre of Pioneer Square. However, there is still much that needs to be done with indigenous relations today.

  

  Chief Seattle backed by his famous words