The best spot to watch the sunrise in Auckland has to be Milford Beach. Watching the sun come up behind Rangitoto Island and slowly fill the sky with colour is just amazing from this vantage point.
I love Milford beach. As a photographer it is one of my regular haunts for family photos, boasting a large reserve, park (for bribes afterward), amazing reflections in the little pools of water on the beach, big trees and a bridge. It also is the best spot to watch the sunrise.
The sun comes up just behind Rangitoto and if you time the tide right (low tide is best) will turn the beach to gold as the early morning sun glows and reflects of the shallow water.
The thing I find with sunsets and sunrises is that people always leave too early. A sunrise or sunset takes all up an hour I find. There is the golden glow on people’s faces and the beach around, the crimson streaked sky as the sun initially enters or exits, the orange glow before the sun arrives and the blue in-between the dark and the sun rise/sun set.
So rug up nice and warm, take your camera and a coffee along and settle in for an hour – it will be the best show you will see all week.