Avondale Sunday Markets

The Avondale markets are so. awesome. There’s always lots of little knick-knack/car trunk sales which are fun to browse, and food stalls, but obviously the main draw is the massive selections of fresh fruits & veges. Huge bunches of cilantro, ridiculous red tomatoes, avocados at 10 for $5… it’s always amazing how much fresh produce you can get with a small budget at the markets.

Fresh produce and good prices

What made Avondale famous (beside the spiders). Grab your week's seasonal produce, a kebab and testify with some preachers.

Avondale Markets are the definitive fresh produce market in Auckland. You'll see all the usual in-season suspects, but also probably a few greens you've never seen before, let alone cooked! A tip is there's free parking at the end of Racecourse Parade. From there it's an easy walk to the eastern entrance.

You never know what you will find. Scored myself a cool Indian skirt for $15, and tried Hawaiian BBQ for the first time. Even bustling in the rain.

It's worth popping along here on a Sunday for the cheap fruit and veges alone.  At this time of the year, they also have a great selection of plants at really low prices.  Lots of other stalls too - a range of second hand and Asia goods with a scattering of food places.

The Avondale markets are an absolute treasure trove for finding cheap fruit and veges, vintage and antique bits and pieces, tools and so much more. It's almost like visiting 200 garage sales all at once - plus an incredible range of rediculously cheap seasonal produce - we get all of our fruit and vege for often less than a quarter of the price of the supermarket, and it's a cool experience. You have to be prepared to be a little bit pushy though (which is something that took me a few weeks to get used to) or otherwise you don't get to move anywhere, as it's often very busy.

The Avondale market is so much fun. As a kid i was there every week and now as an adult i enjoy taking my children. It is huge, with so much fruit and vege shoping, food stalls and nik nacks it really is good. I love to look through the old stalls to find a good bargin and treasures.

The markets are well worth a look on a sunday morning.  Try to get along before 9am and you will usually find a park on the street.  Regular stall holders tend to have the same spot each market so if you are a first timer try to keep a track of where the vendors are that sell goods you like.  There are a lot of $2 shop style crap stalls avoid them and dig a little deeper around the back of the market, the birdcage, and the western side for second hand treasures.  Visit the Thai food stand by the fish monger...... Delicious street food from $2 and for only $8 get a bowl of noodle soup topped with corriander and mung beans.  Head over to the Pork Bun stand ( look for the flag) in the warmer weather wash it down with a mango drink from the pineapple hut.  And as you leave the main entrance buy a couple of little succulents from the stand to the left; it will be the best $2 plant you will ever buy. Great for kids too give them 10 bucks and let them budget how they spend it!