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Plants, Animals and Scenery
Close to Fylde Fields…
Clarkes Beach
This beach has safe swimming opportunities and BBQ facilities and is nearby to the yacht club and golf club with picturesque coastal walks offering view over towards the Awhitu peninsula. A small boat ramp makes accessing the harbour very easy.
PJ Alpacas
Tours by appointment, Grazelands, 120 Saddleton Road, Ph 09 2321142
Nearby…
Wrights Watergardens
http://www.ubd-online.co.nz/wrightswatergardens/
Wrights Watergardens are built around the historic Mauku Waterfall and stream. The area has a rich and eventful history. During the eighteen hundreds, a huge waterwheel was located at the top of the waterfall which powered the flax mill built besides it. Once dismantled, the area became a favourite picnic spot and the site of many wedding proposals.
After the Second World War, the land was turned into a rock quarry which provided much of the hard metal for the roads leading out to the local steel mill. After the quarry was abandoned, noxious weeds and rubbish covered the area for several decades. The quarry has now been transformed into a 5-acre garden, beautiful in all seasons. A different scene emerges each day, from the ever-changing selection of trees, shrubs, and native plants. Water lilies, lotus and iris all flourish in this stunning setting.
Glenbrook Farm Park
35 Farmpark Road, (off Glenbrook Station Rd - off Drury/Waiuku Rd)
The farm park is next door to Glenbrook Vintage Railway (steam train rides and cafeteria) is an animal lover's paradise with exotic birds and animals. Open October to June 11am - 5pm Sundays and public holidays
A super fun Animal Park with lots of amazingly tame and friendly animals and birds, all displayed in picturesque ranch surroundings.
- Baby animals for children to bottle feed (1.15pm)
- Cheeky talking parrots
- Pony rides
- Animals to pet, cuddle and hand feed
It is a great hands-on experience for animal lovers young and old
Grahams Beach
With its white sandy beach, small playground, recently renovated public toilets, safer swimming opportunities and BBQ facilities, is an ideal summer picnic spot. A small boat ramp makes accessing the harbour very easy.
Awhitu Regional Park
http://www.arc.govt.nz/parks/our-parks/parks-in-the-region/awhitu/
Awhitu Regional Park. On the south west shores of the Manukau Harbour, Awhitu Regional Park is a peaceful retreat. It has tranquil bays, rolling pastures and a rich history.
Transformed wetlands lie behind the park's two long, sandy beaches (Kauritutahi Beach and Brook Beach) and provide a wonderful habitat for the rare fernbird (matata) and banded rail (moho pereru).
Both the Awhitu Peninsula and the park take their names from the pre-European Maori settlement of Awhitu, which was located at the western end of Orua Bay to the north of the park. It was named because of the 'yearning' (awhitu) felt by Hoturoa, the commander of the Tainui canoe (waka), when he left the district.
The traditional name for the park's location was Kauritutahi, so named for the single kauri tree which stood on the small islet of the park.
History - The Ngati Te Ata and Ngati Kahukoka people originally occupied the Awhitu Peninsula. Their descendents still maintain strong links to this land, with marae located in and around Waiuku. The large waka Toki-a-Tapiri, which now rests at the Auckland Museum, came from this area.
Evidence from middens on the park indicates Maori used the local area extensively for fishing and resource gathering. English immigrants John and Sarah Brook built the Brook homestead, originally called Brook Haven, in 1878. It remains a central feature of the park. The family added the bach in front of the homestead in 1907. The old jetty, which remains at Kauritutahi Bay, was also built by the Brook family.
It was a lifeline to the outside world when this far-flung place had no roads. Basic supplies and visitors came in across these boards and kauri posts and farm products went out. In 1971, John Brook's grandson Fred sold his land to the ARC. Awhitu Regional Park was officially opened in 1975 and continues to operate as a working farm.
Wildlife - Native forest birds include native pigeon, morepork, kingfisher, grey warbler, fantail, silvereye and tui. Bird habitats at Awhitu are the wetland, salt-marsh, beach and intertidal areas. The wetlands harbour waterfowl such as paradise, mallard and grey ducks and grey teal, along with a small but significant population of North Island fernbird.
Native bush - The area is predominantly grazed and mown grassland with scattered plantings of pine and macrocarpa for farm shelter. Radiata pine, blue gum and Tasmanian blackwood have been planted as woodlots. There are also significant riparian and wetland plantings of native trees, some of which are 30 year old.
Around the coast there is a fringe of mature pohutukawa forest. In places, manuka scrub, ferns and other native coastal shrubs grown beneath the pohutukawa, especially around the southern shores. Several small patches of manuka scrub surround the upper reaches of the Brook wetland.
Waipipi Bird Park
http://awhitu.info/map/waipipi_birdpark.htm
Waipipi Wharf Road, Awhitu Peninsula
Bird Park Hours: 10am to 5pm, 7 days.
For Ron Peake, this is the culmination of four years of hard work, as he and his wife Amily worked on their 16 acres of farmland, transforming pasture into an avocado orchard and six acres of gardens and aviaries. Many of the 150 parakeets, lorikeets, parrots, cockatoos and conures have been hand-reared and for the past few years Ron has also been buying birds from all over New Zealand to produce breeding pairs.
Apart from building the 50 aviaries, Ron has planted an extensive garden with trees and shrubs to attract native birds as well as fruit trees, bottle brush and olive trees to help provide food for his bird population. Two ponds have been created, home to a variety of ducks and swans.
Matakawau Bush Reserve Walkway
Matakawau Rd (opposite Catholic Church)
A half-hour walk with over 60 native tree species named across strategic boardwalks and with stunning views.
Orua Bay Bird Park and Birdcage Tearooms
http://starwars.orconhosting.net.nz/
Orua Bay Rd, RD4 Awhitu
Open weekends, public holidays and school holidays all year around and weekdays by appointment
Tearooms and aviaries with a wide variety of exotic birds set in park-like surroundings with sea and rural views. There is plenty of parking for cars and coaches and indoor and outdoor seating with sun umbrellas. It is handy to Orua Bay Beach.
Waimatuku Walks
http://awhitu.info/map/waimatuku_walks.htm
363 Hamilton Rd, RD4, Waiuku
2-Day walking packages includes fully catered meals and shared 'bunkhouse' accommodation. Two ten-kilometre rural walks (grade 2) over 'Green Ribbon' environmental award-winning property, bush, hills, waterfall, views over the Tasman Sea and Manukau Harbour. Visit early European and Maori historic sites. Admire some of New Zealand's biggest native trees. Enjoy native bird song. Close to Manukau Harbour and the Tasman Sea beaches. It is a one hour drive from South Auckland, 30 minutes from Waiuku Township.
Karioitahi Beach
Karioitahi Beach is home to the Karioitahi Surf Patrol, Karioitahi Beach’s wild west-coast beach offers great opportunity for a wide range of recreational pursuits, as well as the opportunity to escape the city.
Hamilton’s Gap Reserve adjoins the rugged black sand west coast beach, with its wild raging surf and spectacular coastal cliffs.
Waiuku Forest
http://www.franklindistrict.co.nz/FranklinDistrict/SportandRecreation/
WaiukuForest/tabid/343/Default.aspx
Waiuku Forest is a sand dune pine plantation forest on the northern mouth of the Waikato River administered by Crown Forestry. The forest is almost cut in two by the New Zealand Steel iron-sand mine. The forest has an access road (gravel) traversing almost the length of the forest down to two picnic areas at the river mouth. There is also a road and track network within the forest that is well used for recreational activities such as horse riding, running, walking, car rallies and fishing access. Other recreational uses of the forest are orienteering, picnicking and sightseeing.
The forest opens at 7.00am each day and closing time is 6.00pm daily. Entry may be restricted during periods of high fire danger.
Parts of the forest are also able to be booked by recreation and sport groups for events. On some occasions casual recreation may be restricted during particular events.
History - During pre-European times, it is acknowledged that the Waiuku Forest area was of significance to Maori. At the time of European arrival, the headland now covered by Waiuku Forest, was characterised by extensive wind-blown coastal sand dunes and areas of high manuka and fern.
Waiuku Forest was established by the Public Works Department in 1932 as a protection forest to prevent the spread of sand onto adjacent farmland. Marram grass was planted to stabilise the sand, then tree lupin to provide nutrients and shelter for the pines, which were first planted in 1935. Little tending of these stands occurred until after the NZ Forest Service assumed management of the forest in 1952.
In 1966, the Crown entered into a Mining Licence with New Zealand Steel Limited for the purpose of extraction of iron sands. The Licence, which requires the clear-felling of forest in advance of mining operations, is for a term of 100 years and covers all but 15.9 hectares of the Forest.
In 1987 when the NZ Forest Service ceased to exist, management of the Forest passed to the State Owned Enterprise NZ Forestry Corporation Ltd who, when the decision was made not to sell the cutting rights for the Forest, continued to manage the forest via their successor Crown Forestry Management Ltd.
In July 2001 when Crown Forestry Management Ltd was wound up, responsibility for management of the forest passed to MAF’s Crown Forestry Group. Day to day forestry operations, including a grazing license, is managed by Northland Forest Managers Ltd.
There are two areas of Maori-owned land within the forest. These are a fishing reserve (Tangitangina) along the eastern (river) boundary and a Maori urupa in the centre of the forest. There are also four areas of former Maori Land within the forest totalling some 305 hectares. These areas are presently gazetted as Conservation Land pending the settlement of a Treaty of Waitangi claim.
Reardons Road Lookout
The look out (off Reardons Road) provides views of the Waiuku River mouth and the New Zealand Steel iron-sand mine.
Ethir Anduin - A cache named ‘Ethir Anduin’ is located in the forest that can be found using a GPS unit. The cache was named ‘Ethir Anduin’ after the shores of the land of Gondor in Lord of the Rings, where the river Ithilium flows from Mordor into the sea. Geocaching and caches worldwide are promoted through www.geocaching.com. Anyone wanting to find the Waiuku Forest cache should go to www.geocaching.com/seek and enter the keywords ‘Ethir Anduin’ to get the GPS coordinates.
Anyone finding the cache is requested to log the find on www.geocaching.com and in accordance with cache etiquette remove an item from the cache and replace with some other worthless but intriguing object!
Further afield…
ARC Tapapakanga Regional Park
http://www.arc.govt.nz/parks/our-parks/parks-in-the-region/tapapakanga/
This is a coastal farm park located on the Firth of Thames, south of Orere Point. It is a sandy accessible pohutakawa-edged beach, rich in Maori and European history, camping available. A coastal walkway to hilltop affords spectacular views over the Firth of Thames and Coromandel Peninsula.
Hunua Parkland
Hunua Ranges (17,462 hectares) and Waharau (238 hectares) Walking, camping and picnicking opportunities, beautiful Hunua Falls, mountain bike tracks, and walking tracks. Track maps can be purchased from the local information centres: Waiuku - 2 Queen Street, Pukekohe - 4c Roulston Street by the town square, and Franklin Info Centre, Bombay Service Centre.
Take your camera and have a great time.
Miranda Shorebird Centre
http://www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz/
East Coast Road, RD1, Pokeno
This area is renowned for being able to see migratory wading birds from home and abroad, including the unique Wrybill all year round. Here you will also find the Visitor & Natural History Information Centre.
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