Other Walks In the Auckland Region

  

  

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MANGAWHAI CLIFFS WALKWAY

 

Access: 129 km from Auckland. State Highway 1 (SH1) to just north of Te Hana, turn right to Mangawhai Heads.

Length: 5 km — 2.5 hours return

 

Footwear: Walking shoes

 

Caveat: Crosses private land, please respect animals and property. Closed for lambing 1 August — 1 October

 

The walk has a signposted start near the surf club on the northern side of Mangawhai Harbour. The route extends along the beach for one kilometre with good opportunities to spot sea or wading birds, then follows marker poles to the clifftops. Past the large natural amphitheatre known as the Giant’s Staircase, deep and distant coastal views give way to vistas of inland hills. The track ends back at the coast near a shag colony in a pohutukawa tree. The round trip can be completed along the shore-line, a route which includes some rock scrambling and is not recommended on incoming tides or in rough weather.

 

 

WHANGAMARINO WALKWAY

  

Access: 59 km from Auckland down SH1, 9 km past Pokeno.

 

Length: 3 km — 1 hour loop

 

Footwear: Walking shoes

  

Caveat: Crosses private land. Users should respect animals and property

 

The track begins at a rest area on the south side of the Whangamarino River. The river drains the Whangamarino Wetland — one of New Zealand’s most important wetlands and a water-bird habitat. The walk follows railway track and enters bush before reaching a bluff giving views of the Waikato River. The remains of the old Te Teo Teo Pa — site of a battle between Maori warriors and British soldiers in 1863 during the Land Wars are still visible. The track goes on past a British Army redoubt also built during the war before joining a metalled road giving good views of the wetland. The walkway crosses the river at flood-control gates and returns to the rest area.

 

 

WAIRARAPA GRAVES Great Barrier Island

  

Access: Taxi from Port Fitzroy to Whangapoua Beach —a 20 minute ride.

 

Length: 1.5 km —30 minutes

 

Footwear: Shoes

 

From signposted beginning, cross paddock to stile over fence. Track leads through pines to Whangapoua Beach. Follow the beach north to the headland at Tapuwai and to two picket-fence enclosures — mass graves from the 55 Wairarapa disaster of 29 October 1894. At eight minutes past midnight that morning, the Union Steam Ship Company passenger steamer hit cliffs on Great Barrier s northern coast and sank with the loss of 130 lives — it was New Zealand’s third-worst shipwreck.

 

 

OTHER WALKS

 

North Head Reserve, is a 12-minute ferry trip from the Downtown Auckland Ferry to Devonport then a brief walk along King Edward Parade and Cheltenham Road. Self-guided-walk pamphlets and a tour on tape are available from the DOC Visitor Centre (Ph 366 2166). The grassy volcanic hill provides pleasant strolling with panoramas of Auckland City, Rangitoto and the Hauraki Gulf, but as a guardian promontory to Auckland Harbour’s entrance, it also has a long and interesting military history. A path leads around its rocky seashore and other tracks criss-cross its flanks. A torch is useful for exploring its tunnels.

 

Logues Bush Scenic Reserve, near Waiteiti, north-east of Wellsford on SH1 is a 41 hectare lowland forest remnant. The main track loops through the reserve in a 90 minute walking circuit.

 

Omaha Cove Walk, take SH1 to Warkworth and turn right to reach Leigh township. The walk begins beside Leigh Wharf — a one-hour return walk along easy gradients which takes in coastal forest with coastal bird-life and sometimes a glimpse of kaka, the New Zealand parrot.

 

Goat Island Bay Walkway, Take SH1 to Warkworth and turn right to reach Leigh township. Left down Pakiri Rd, then right into Goat Island Bay Rd. The two hour return walk begins at the Goat Island Bay carpark, goes behind the Auckland University Laboratory and climbs a farm hill on a route marked by white poles.

It follows the clifftop, crossing patches of coastal forest, with views across the outer Hauraki Gulf, and closer in, Goat Island and the Cape Rodney-Okakari Point Marine Reserve.

 

NOTE: dogs are prohibited from walkways under the Walkways Act 1990

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Alpine Sports Club inc.  P.O. Box 131, Auckland, New Zealand.  email   email@alpinesport.org.nz