Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina will be joined by the likes of rugby sevens player Tyla Nathan-Wong, a Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist, and hockey player Krystal Forgesson, a double Commonwealth Games medallist.

Also in attendance will be boxer Alexis Pritchard, former sprinter Kim Robertson, ex-hockey player Helen Clarke and swimmer Dylan Dunlop-Barrett.

Following a traditional powhiri, the athletes together with Ngati Whatua kaumatua will hand the Baton to elders of the Yugambeh people of the Gold Coast, who have travelled to New Zealand for the occasion.

Cultural performances in traditional dress from both the Auckland Museum cultural party and Yugambeh performers will take place, along with photo opportunities.

The Handover Ceremony supports the Gold Coast 2018 Reconciliation Action Plan that seeks to use the Commonwealth Games to strengthen and empower First Nations peoples in Australia and the Commonwealth.

It will follow the Baton’s visit to Auckland’s Otara Markets, where shooter Sean McCabe will be among the New Zealand athletes present along with Robertson, Para-swimmer Tupou Neiufi and discus thrower Te Rina Keenan.

Today saw the Baton passed from swimmer Lauren Boyle, the women’s 400 metres freestyle gold medallist at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, to diver Liam Stone at the Sir Owen Glenn National Aquatic Centre.

The swimmers named on New Zealand’s 19-strong Gold Coast 2018 aquatics team also got their hands on it.

The Baton was then handed onto one of New Zealand’s most well-known weightlifters, four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Precious McKenzie.

A resident of the Settlers retirement home on Auckland’s North Shore, McKenzie was said to have shared the excitement of the Commonwealth Games.

His fellow residents waved New Zealand flags and mixed with the dozen Commonwealth Games athletes from the country that took part in the event, including Dunlop-Barrett, diver Ann Sissons, basketball player Dillon Boucher, racewalker Tony Sargisson, gymnast Stella Ebert and pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart.

The Baton then headed to the Westfield shopping centre in Albany, where athletes took part in a relay.

Santa Claus had a turn holding the Baton and wished the athletes a Merry Christmas.

"We want as many people to engage with the Commonwealth Games as possible and athletes come from communities all around New Zealand," Kereyn Smith, chief executive of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, said.

"Having the Queen’s Baton Relay today take in the excited school children counting down to Christmas, our elite swimmers and the senior citizens at Precious McKenzie’s retirement home is what it’s all about."

After travelling for 288 days throughout the nations and territories of the Commonwealth, the Gold Coast 2018 Queen’s Baton is due to arrive on Australian soil on Sunday (December 24).  

Gold Coast 2018 ambassador Cam McEvoy will carry the Queen’s Baton through to Brisbane International Airport’s arrivals hall.