Travelogue

We spent our first night on the North Island at the Holiday Inn Auckland Airport hotel, where we figured we could get some well-needed sleep before picking up our campervan the following morning.

Despite not sleeping that well on the plane, we tried to limit ourselves to just a short nap, so that we could better adjust to the new time zone. New Zealand is actually not that hard to adjust to because it is only 3 hours earlier than California. However, the confusing part is that it is one day later, so I was constantly panicking that my itinerary was off by a day.

After sitting for 13+ hours on the plane, we felt that a walk would do us good, but since the hotel was located in the fairly industrial suburb of Mangere, we didn’t think there would be any good options. However, we soon found out that Mangere sits on an ancient volcanic field and offers some of Auckland’s best nature walks:

Māngere Mountain (Te Pane o Mataoho): One of Auckland’s largest and best-preserved volcanic cones. It offers panoramic views of the Manukau Harbour and features ancient Māori earthworks like storage pits and fortified pā sites.

Ambury Regional Park: A working farm on the coast where you can see sheep and cows right next to the harbour.

Kiwi Esplanade: a scenic coastal stretch along the shores of Manukau Harbor, offering a mix of volcanic geology and rich birdlife

Today we decided to set off towards the Kiwi Esplanade, but we made some interesting diversions along the way.

We were hungry, so our first stop was the Mountain Road Takeaway. In New Zealand, a "takeaway" refers to what Americans call "takeout"—prepared food you buy to eat elsewhere. We had nowhere to “take it away” to, so they let us take two chairs outside their door, where we proceeded to eat our meat pies, spilling a bit of them while trying to balance them on our laps. That’s when we learned how hard it was to clean up meat pie from a sidewalk with a napkin.

Somewhat satisfied with our ¾ of a meat pie, we continued a short distance before diverging from our planned route along the road when we saw horses in a field, all of which were wearing rugs over their backs.

This was curious I thought, so I did a bit of research as to why. New Zealand has very unpredictable weather, which can start off sunny and warm in the morning and end in a freezing rainstorm. Since most horses in NZ live outside in large grass paddocks rather than being kept in stables, when it rains, their natural coat, which is not waterproof, can get waterlogged. Hence the rugs to keep them warm and dry.

We continued past the horses and onto the Magere Lagoon Path, much nicer than just walking along the road.

The path followed the rim of a volcanic explosion crater formed about 70,000 years ago. About 7,000 years ago, rising sea levels breached the crater rim, turning it from a dry hole into a tidal lagoon connected to the Manukau Harbour.

In the 1950s, the lagoon was closed off from the sea and used as a huge oxidation pond for Auckland’s wastewater. From 1998 to 2005, Project Manukau conducted the largest marine restoration project in NZ history, removing the sewage sludge, reconnecting the lagoon to the tide, and planting over 300,000 native trees and shrubs. Now, the water is clean, the smell is gone, and the lagoon is a thriving saltwater wetland.

Today it is an internationally significant habitat for shorebirds and one of the best places in Auckland to see Bar-Tailed Godwits, Wrybills, and Royal Spoonbills.
From the Māngere Lagoon Path, we continued on to the Watercare Coastal Walkway, which brought us to Ambury Regional Park, a unique working dairy and sheep farm situated on the shores of the Manukau Harbour.

From there we continued on to the Kiwi Esplanade, which brought us along the northern edge of the Manukau Harbour.

We had already walked close to 6 miles, and didn’t feel like walking back along the streets to the hotel, so we called an Uber to take us back - well worth the 6 bucks.

It has been a lovely hike, full of surprises and much more natural beauty than we had expected to find in an industrial suburb.

That evening, rather than partaking in the hotel buffet, which didn’t exactly get rave reviews on Trip Advisor, we walked to a popular local restaurant called the Post Office Public House where we had delicious salmon burgers and wine.

Then to bed for a good night’s rest before picking up the campervan.