Auckland Car Hire

Car rental in Auckland is easy and cheap at Scotties. We offer free city or Airport pickup and we are very close to Auckland City centre so we can also pick you up from the cruise ship terminal. We suggest your first stop is the summit of Mt Eden which is a 5 minute drive from Scotties Car Rental Auckland rental car base. You will get a great view over Auckland from this great volcano.

Most of Aucklands top hotels are within 10 minutes of our Auckland car rental base so picking up and dropping off is easy-peasy!

Sports nuts will also appreciate that Eden Park - home to the 2011 Rugby World Cup is just down the road. Scotties is offering free parking on match days for all our cars.

HISTORY

Early European visitors included Captain Cook, missionary Samuel Marsden, British naval boats seeking timber for masts and spars, and whalers and sealers provisioning their ships. They brought iron tools, alcohol and tobacco, serious diseases and, most significantly, muskets! As well as Christianity, the missionaries introduced farm animals, the plough, fruit trees, cereal and vegetable crops. Traditional Maori ways of life were changed forever.

In 1840 many local chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi with Britain. There have been problems in defining its true meaning ever since and land disputes have therefore ensued. However, it is an important document, embodying the ideal that "We are One People".

Auckland became the capital of the new colony in 1840 on land purchased from Ngati Whatua. Farming developed along with copper mining and timber, and Maori communities participated widely in agriculture and trade. Relations between them and European settlers were friendly during the 1840s-50s, although military settlements at Onehunga, Otahuhu, Panmure, Howick and Albert Barracks in the city were built then. The Land Wars of the 1860s decimated the South Auckland tribes, and much of their land and that of Tainui was confiscated.

In 1865 the country's capital was transferred to Wellington. Auckland grew to become New Zealand's main industrial center and port over the next 30 years. From 1870 immigration from Britain increased, and gum digging, brick making, flour milling, brewing and boat building were added to the local trades. The introduction of refrigeration in the late 1880s had a major impact on the entire country. Now it was possible to transport fresh food to Britain and much produce passed through the port of Auckland.

Through the 1880s Auckland had 8,000 inhabitants and 20,000 people lived on the isthmus. Many large buildings were built, such as the Customhouse, City Library and Art Gallery. Fortifications at Takapuna, Bastion Point, North Head and Mt Victoria were built to defend the city in case of attack.

By the 1890s Auckland was described as a "sophisticated cosmopolitan centre". Venues such as the Domain were developed for sport, and new leisure activities included steamer excursions to beaches like Devonport and the Gulf Islands, horse racing, walking, cycling and brass band concerts. After the hard early pioneering days, people could now discover and enjoy the attractions of the Auckland region.