Two lanes of the harbour bridge were shut down for around three hours on Tuesday to let 4000 protesters through on foot.
The march began in Cape Reinga last Friday as a symbolic protest of the government's seabed and foreshore legislation and will make its way by car and on foot to the Beehive in Wellington.
The march has drawn around 1000 more protesters than Dame Whina Cooper's historic land march in 1981.
Activist Titewhai Harawira says the present hikoi is in the tradition of that first protest.
"Thirty years later we have to do the same thing that we were doing then against the same government. But this time it's a little bit different because New Zealand First has decided to join with the thieves and steal our land."
Earlier on Tuesday morning road safety staff and police swarmed onto the bridge to close the lanes and put up safety barriers in a $50,000 operation.
Protesters got a briefing about the dangers of wind speeds before crossing the bridge and they march started onto the bridge about 11am.
But Tame Iti joined the hikoi to show his anger about government policies.
"We're here today to show the whole world shame to the coalition government. What they intend to do is a rip off of 13 million acres of the sand and out at the sea and the shores."
On the other side of the barrier from the protester, the predicted gridlock never happened. Traffic was steady and Transit New Zealand's Wayne McDonald says drivers used their common sense.
"People listened and stayed away so we were able to cope with traffic both north and south with three lanes in each direction with minimal queuing. [There was] far than queuing than we would have had in an evening peak hour on a typical day."
After crossing the bridge the hikoi took its message to the scene of another symbolic protest- Bastion Point.
Hikoi members were to stay in Auckland overnight on Tuesday, before resuming their journey.
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