July-August 2024

Trip Reports: July - August 2024

25 August - Orewa Estuary and Eaves Bush

The weather gods definitely smiled on us on Sunday for our Orewa day out. 42 of us travelled up to the Orewa Estuary Arts Centre to begin our day exploring beach, bush and estuary. The water sparkled in the sunshine as we walked past the camping grounds on the foreshore and down on the sand, a half hour trip to the far end and Arundel Reserve for morning tea.

Using the underpass we went over to Orewa House and learnt details of its history. A short walk up Old North Road saw us at the entrance to Alice Eaves Scenic Reserve. The Eaves, owners of Orewa House, bought land including a parcel of native bush.

Alice nurtured the bush over the years and in 1960 it was named after her on its gift to the public. Now it is a scenic sanctuary for visitors. Using the boardwalks and steps we enjoyed seeing a variety of mature and majestic native trees including kauri, nikau, kahikatea, and puriri. So peaceful.
"The Old Hollow Kauri" - just how tall is it??

Exiting by Kensington Gardens we walked through the grounds, and by the lake. Group members remembered when this area was Puriri Park and a camp ground. How times have changed!

After a walk through streets we lunched by the lake under the shade of trees, watching the "little black shags" before returning on part of the estuary walkway to the Arts Centre.

The Te Ara Tahuna Estuary cycle and walkway encompasses views of the Millwater centre, homes, gardens, schools, sports fields, and parks. It is a popular recreational route for cyclists and walkers.

Wooden seats, carved by the Auckland Prisoners' Carving Group, depicting marine and bird scenes provided viewing stops.

Two Māori pas were in the vicinity and the tidal estuary was a significant food gathering place for Māori. Today gulls, wading birds, and water fowl feed in the estuary especially when the mud beds are exposed at low tide.

Mangroves line the fringes of the shoreline providing habitat for wildlife.

In the afternoon people had the choice of three options.

* Remaining at the arts centre to see the art, relax, and have a coffee.

* Walking around part of the estuary before returning via the same route to spend time in the arts centre.

* Walking the full 7 1/2 km estuary loop walk.

In all, a full day including plenty of walking and enjoying what the Orewa area has to offer.

Huge thanks to Fiona and Jan and their helpers - Barbara & Josephine.
Text: Jan Photos: Barbara, Valerie and Varima

11 August - Beach Haven Coastal Walkway & Birkenhead Domain Kauri Walk

On a lovely fine (but cool) mid-winter morning, 35 Club members set out from Shepherds Park in Beach Haven to walk the recently upgraded coastal walkway. It covers 3.5 kms of coast alongside the Hellyers Creek and now features long sections of wide boardwalks, sturdy bridges across gullies and firm gravel walking paths. At the large lookout deck, we paused to enjoy the view and have a talk about the mangroves – (Avicennia marina subspecies australasica, also known as manawa) which are so plentiful in the inter-tidal zones along this estuary.

After an hour on this track, we exited onto Beach Haven Road and walked past an Orthodox Coptic Church, some large warehouse properties, over the Kaipatiki Creek bridge and back into a section of bush on a track parallel with Kaipatiki Road. We popped out of there and rejoined our bus in Stanley Road, opposite the Orchards Retirement Village, whose name gives a nod to the early fruit farming in this area.

A short drive in the bus had the group deposited at Manuka Reserve for morning tea. This reserve, at the bottom of Manuka Road, fronts onto the headwaters of Hellyers Creek. At this point the group divided. Most headed up through the Dog Park to walk 30 minutes on a bush track through Manuka Reserve to the point where it meets Lynn Road and another reserve there.

Meantime, a smaller group had opted to travel by bus to Lynn Rd Reserve and walk into the lovely bush there to view twin kauri,
a 20 minute return trip.

With the two groups reunited, we enjoyed lunch in the sunshine at the Lynn Rd playground.

Using the bus again, we all travelled to the Birkenhead War Memorial Park’s main entrance in Mahara Road. This is where the Birkenhead Museum is located, in a cute old colonial cottage called Farrington House.

This Sunday happened to be the once-a-month occasion when an historical talk was taking place at the museum, on the subject of fruit farming in the Birkdale area in the early 1900’s.

Birkenhead Museum

A number of our members chose to attend this talk at 1pm and enjoy the afternoon tea provided afterwards by the Birkenhead Heritage Society members.

After the Museum talk, those people had a chance to do the kauri walk, while those who had just completed it were able to take a look inside the Museum, which officially opened to the public at 2pm.

Our day was a lovely mix of enjoying local pockets of a variety of bush, time to chat and get to know each other better at our leisurely morning tea and lunch stops, plus an opportunity to learn a little of the past in this area of the North Shore. And the sunny fine day was an extra bonus!

Leaders: Sandra and Shona.
We weren't able to proceed with our scheduled walk in the Waitakere Ranges and Sandra and Shona pulled this replacement walk together at short notice. A huge thank you!!

Text: Sandra Photos: Barbara and Linda

28 July - Clevedon Arboretum & Sculpture Garden and Ayrlie's Wetland

What a glorious winter’s day we had for this outing for 40 lucky club members!

We started in Clevedon on the Riverhaven Artland property, which is home to Guy Blundell.
He welcomed us with morning tea in the barn at the front of the property, which also serves as a workshop/gallery for his artist daughter, Katie. Her artworks are large and mostly rural.

After a short chat from Guy, we set off to explore this lovely property of 40 acres of rolling farmland.
20 years ago, Guy started planting thousands of exotic trees on his land. As these matured, he was inspired by the idea of adding outdoor art to his Arboretum, and now has over 20 very differing and interesting works of art and sculptures dotted around amongst the trees. There are also several relics of machinery and other items, giving a nod to the history of this area.

The trees are underplanted with a variety of massed shows of smaller plants, most of which flower at some stage of the year. As our visit was in mid-winter, the trees were mostly bare with piles of brown leaves beneath them.

Colour came in the form of several flowering magnolias - both white and pink varieties, and lots of golden daffodils popping their bright heads up as a harbinger of Spring.

Guy accompanied us on our walk and his explanations of the artworks, and stories about the artists who created them, added so much to our visit.

His land borders the Wairoa River and there were interesting glimpses of masts and the tops of boats moored behind the mangroves.

Guy has created several large ponds for interest and several of the artworks were situated beside and on the water, using reflections to good effect.

Also beside the river are many Swamp Cypresses, with their short stubby wooden “knees” (pneumatophores) popping out of the ground beneath them.

The next stop for our ‘day in the sunshine’ was Maraetai Beach, for a picnic lunch.

The tide was in, the sun shining, Waiheke Island lay just across the sparkling water … . it felt like a perfect place for lunch.

A nearby cafe which served coffee & ice creams just topped up our experience there.

A short bus ride brought us to Whitford and the Ayrlie’s Wetland. There are 14 hectares of lagoons and swamp here that have been developed with trails, boardwalks and bridges, creating a loop track through flaxes, reeds and native plantings, to view the birdlife. We spent an hour here, some chose to take the track slowly and linger here & there, others managed to get round the track twice.

40 people is a big group to visit an area like this, but we still saw quite a few birds - ducks, scaup, swans, pukeko, fantails, swallows and, most exciting of all, a group of white Royal Spoonbills.

Sadly we didn’t see them up close as they opted to fly to the other side of the lagoon to maintain their distance from this large group of visitors. Everyone found this a very peaceful and serene place to visit, far from the rush of the city.

A huge thanks to Sandra and Anne Marie for putting this great day together.

Text: Sandra
Photos: Barbara, Julie and Sandra

14 July - Smith's Bush, Tuff Crater, Onepoto Basin and Kauri Glen Reserve

A great location for epiphytes.

Our day started with clear weather and an interesting walk through Smith’s Bush in Northcote, some of the oldest remnant bush on the North Shore. It includes a cathedral cove of giant puriri, 50-100 year old kahikatea, totara and a number of other native trees and birdlife. According to geological maps the soils are more fertile than most of the North Shore and the bush is unique and of high ecological importance.

Originally privately owned bush, known as Mackay’s Bush, that was purchased by the crown before being taken over by the then Takapuna Borough Council in 1925. Later the existing 18 acres of native bush was milled for timber. The bush was then divided after the Second World War for the northern entrance to the four lane Auckland Harbour Bridge which was opened on 30 May 1959.

After an early morning tea break we walked along Akoranga Drive, past the Northbridge Retirement Village and into Warehouse Way to take the track at the end down to Tuff Crater. This volcanic site was known as Tank Farm during World War II, when the Americans installed up to 9 tanks along the north edge.

A ten minute walk took us to the bottom of St Peter’s Street where Richard Hursthouse,
from Forest and Bird, met us. Richard is one of a number of volunteers who has been working on the restoration and replanting of Tuff Crater.

After a talk he walked with the group around the crater to Heath Reserve. Along the way
he explained the planting, giving more information. The 35 hectare crater, originally fresh water, is one of several explosion craters in the Auckland area. Since breached by the sea
it is now a mangrove estuary that Forest and Bird are replanting and restoring to its natural state.

It offers a unique glimpse into volcanic history and natural beauty.

A 15 minute walk back around the crater took us to a short uphill grass bank to Exmouth Road and the top entrance to Onepoto Basin and the Domain. Onepoto Basin is another volcanic site from about the same time as Tuff Crater that has been developed into a community centre, with a manmade lake and play ground and sports fields.

A short walk down to a board walk took us through the wetlands to the centre of the domain and our lunch break but unfortunately the day was deteriorating with a bitter wind, although the rain held off.

After lunch Don took the majority of the group on a short walk around the wetlands at the perimeter of the basin, an area where native plants are now regenerating on the crater rim, then back up to the bus on Exmouth Road. A smaller group of us walked back along the boardwalk to go back up to the bus.

A short bus ride then took us to Onewa Road. We walked down to Kauri Glen Reserve to spend some time on the new tree top walk. Kauri Glen was established as a reserve in 1907.

Looking Down!

Although the forest has been milled for kauri, some large trees of 200 to 300 years in age remain along with many other large native trees. Walking back, we took the track along the back of Northcote College, passing a number of kauri trees, and exited at Gladstone Road to return to the bus.

An easy walk but with the number of breaks it was surprising that we covered 13 kilometres

Special thanks to today's leaders for a very interesting walk - Shona and Don.
Text: Shona Photos: Shona and Linda