Introduction
The Tāmaki EstuaryThis 9km tour follows the Panmure Shared Pathway along the banks of the Tāmaki Estuary, from Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain in the east to Panmure bridge in the west.You can return by the same route, or catch bus numbers 561 or 72M back to the start point.About the tourThis 9km tour follows the Panmure Shared Pathway along the banks of the Tāmaki Estuary, from Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain in the east to Panmure bridge in the west.HighlightsEasy walking and riding along the shore of the Tāmaki River gives extensive water views. Some exposed geological features are to be seen. How to get backYou can return by the same route, or catch bus numbers 561 or 72M back to the start point.Walk or bike?The tour can be done either on foot or by bike. For bicycles it would be best to join the tour at Prince Regent Drive, as the path down from the start at Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain contains some tight gates.
1. Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain
Climb Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain to get an overview of the Tāmaki River TourStart your tour at the carpark at Pakuranga Domain, at the foot of Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain. Cross the playing field and make your way up the maunga using one of the tracks. This is a steep climb, best leave your bike behind.Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain is a 55m high volcanic cone. The cone forms the last part of volcanic activity that lasted many years, and which created the Auckland volcanic field. An earlier explosive eruption created the prominent tuff ring that is still clearly visible extending in an arc south of Sunderlands Road. Two much smaller craters were formed to the north west of the main cone.During the eruption 30,000 years ago, a small lava flow poured out from the breached crater on the NW side of the growing scoria cone and flowed 700m SW down the valley, coming to a stop at the head of Wakaaranga Creek.Ōhuiarangi was an important pā site, in the era before European arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand.The volcanic cone was first quarried for roading materials by the Fencibles soldier settlers in the mid 1800s.Today Pigeon Mountain is only a fragment of the volcano it once was, with the northern half of the scoria cone quarried away in the 1950’s – 1970’s. The southern half of Pigeon Mountain was gazetted as Pakuranga Domain in 1881, while the northern half remained under private ownership. Small-scale quarrying began here in 1913, but intensified in the 1950’s after Mt Wellington scoria quarry was closed. A campaign to stop the quarrying was finally successful in the 1970s. What was the quarry has now become suburban housing.In a 2014 Treaty settlement with the Tamaki Makaurau Collective of 13 Auckland iwi, the hill was officially renamed Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain, and its ownership was vested with the collective. It is now co-managed by the Collective and Auckland Council as a public park.From the mountain, make your way back to the playing field, cross the road and enter the wetland boardwalk through the narrow gate. Bike riders, the gates to the wetland are are difficult to pass, please head right to Himalaya Drive and then turn left into Imogene Way, and rejoin the tour at Prince Regent Drive Playground.
2. Wetland
Wetland boardwalkFrom the mountain, make your way back to the playing filed, cross the road and enter the wetland boardwalk through the narrow gate. Bike riders, the gates to the wetland are are very difficult to pass, please head right to Himalaya Drive and then turn left into Imogene Way, and rejoin the tour at Prince Regent Drive Playground.The wetland just below Ōhuiarangi Pigeon Mountain was restored fairly recently with the planting mainly of flax plants. Flax was an important export for New Zealand in the early colonial period, as the long strong fibres from the leaves were perfect for making ropes. The nectar from flax flowers is a favourite food of tui. This flax wetland is different to the mangrove wetlands further along this route in that this is fresh water, while mangroves live in salt water habitats.Keep left, head to the Prince Regent Drive playground. Continue on through the tunnel. Bicycles can re-join the Tour here.
3. Wakaaranga Creek
A classic mangrove saltwater wetlandKeep left, head to the Prince Regent Drive playground. Continue on through the tunnel. At the path junction you have reached this stop.This is where you pick up the Rotary Walkway, a level, waterfront route to Panmure Bridge. Wakaaranga creek and wetland is a classic mangrove saltwater wetland. Mangroves or manawa in Māori are important plants in the ecosystems of estuaries. Mangroves provide a refuge for juveniles of many fish species. Mangroves are the only land plants that can survive with their roots in salt water. Mangrove roots have tubes that take in oxygen at low tide, then close and ‘hold their breath’ for the period they are covered with salt water.At the path junction, keep going straight (don't turn right towards Half Moon Bay) and head towards the Tāmaki River along the mangroves. Keep following the shared path along the waterfront until you reach the river.
4. Te Wai o Taiki - Tāmaki River
A significant waterway.Keep following the shared path along the waterfront.From the time people first came to Aotearoa New Zealand, the Tāmaki Estuary has been a significant waterway. The Māori tribes who settled in the Auckland area quickly discovered that the shortest canoe portage between the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours was from the headwaters of the Tāmaki River, to Mangere. The portage starts 10km upstream of here, up Otahuhu Creek in the vicinity of present day Portage Road in Otahuhu.The Tāmaki River was known to Maori as Te Wai o Taiki. Two strategically important pā sites guarded the portage – Apungaotainui and Otahuhu.
5. Snakes and Ladders Playground
A life size board game for the enjoyment of big and smallKeep following the shared path along the waterfront until you find the giant Snakes and Ladders playground right on the estuary.Snakes & Ladders playground Here’s where you can play a human-sized game of snakes and ladder. Spin the dice, call out the number, and players can either advance up the steps, or if they land at the head of a slide, they go backwards down the slide. The first player to get to the top end wins.Snakes and Ladders is an ancient board game from India, with success based entirely on luck. The expression ‘back to square one’ comes from Snakes and Ladders.Keep following the shared path along the waterfront.
6. Sailing Centre Pakuranga Sailing Club
Just along from the Snakes and Ladders playground on the shared waterfront path.Sailing CentreThe sailing Centre building is home to the Pakuranga Sailing Club, the Young Mariners and Sea Scouts. Young Mariners is an organisation for girls, aged 8-19, which gives them an introduction to water sports adventures, as they were traditionally not encouraged to do so.The club is especially welcoming to Sea Scouts, and hosts a number of their regattas. The tidal nature of the water here means they can only sail at certain times. The sailing club website is hereKeep following the shared path along the waterfront.
7. Making of the Pathway
A long-term community effortKeep following the shared path along the waterfront. You'll find information on the making of the pathway on the sign close to the Snakes and Ladders PlaygroundThe planning and building of this pathway was a joint effort between the Rotary Club of Pakuranga, who provided management and labour, and the (then) Manukau City Council who financed it from the parks budget. The construction of the first sections of the path started in 1978. The finished pathway was opened in 2014. Building the path was a long-term commitment, with Rotary being able to pour, on average, around 100m of concrete pathway per year.To avoid long diversions around inlets, boardwalks were built across the mangroves.Keep following the shared path along the waterfront.
8. Farming history
The granary of AucklandPakuranga was once known as ‘The Granary of Auckland’ with the majority of the region’s oats and wheat being grown here. Right up to the Second World War, much of the work on the farms was done by horses. The rolling hills of Pakuranga, now covered by suburbs, were an idyllic rural landscape until the 1950s. The villages of Panmure and Howick were well separated by farm fields. There were also many dairy farms in the district.At the time, the farm homesteads were up on the ridgelines, away from the now more desirable waterfront.
9. Maungarei Mount Wellington
Across the waterKeep following the shared path along the waterfrontFrom this vantage point, Maungarei Mount Wellington dominates the northern skyline. The summit is 135m high. It is the largest scoria cone of the 48 volcanoes of Auckland, and is the youngest onshore volcano in the Auckland field, having erupted 10,000 years ago.The mountain was a significant pā site for Māori. In 1963 a large water reservoir (45,100 cubic metres) was built within the summit cone, and this is used to supply fresh water to the surrounding suburbs.The mountain itself escaped quarrying, mostly because it was the extensive lava field on its north side that was excavated. This large quarry supplied a sizeable proportion of roading aggregate for the region. What was the quarry has now been re-developed as the Stonefields subdivision.
10 Volcanic Remains - Ignimbrite
Ancient volcanoesThe Taupo eruptions were pivotal events in New Zealand’s geological history. They were among the largest volcanic eruptions the world has ever seen, and they deposited a thick layer of ash over most of northern New Zealand which turned into the rock known as ignimbrite. Here we see it as a band of lighter, pumice-coloured rock.The eruptions produced rhyolite, a viscous magma with a high silica content. When mixed with gas or steam, rhyolitic explosions can be extremely violent. The magma froths up to from pumice and ash, and this is thrown out with much force.When the pumice and ash settles it is hot enough to stick together as ignimbrite.The eruption that produced this ignimbrite layer occurred around 1.2 million years ago. That eruption produced enough ignimbrite to cover the country from Auckland to Napier. In places this layer of ignimbrite would have eroded away, but here it is intact.
11. Middens & food sources
Kitchen scraps, preservedMiddens are old dumps of domestic waste. In New Zealand, this is usually the remains of food in the form of shells. Middens tell us where Māori people in the old days would have had a settlement, or where they feasted on shellfish. Middens are in incomplete historical record in that, generally, only hard elements remain. Organic refuse would have long since composted away. For this reason middens give us a perhaps biased picture of the importance of shellfish to the ancient Māori diet.
12. St. Kents Rowing Pontoon
Rowers from St Kentigerns College launch their rowing boats from this pontoon. Most of their rowing trainng is done early in the morning. The school grounds are above you on the hill here, and a large shed containing the rowing gear is just up this pathway. St Kentigerns College was established in 1953 on what was a fairly rural site bordering the waters of the Tāmaki Estuary. The college opened with 93 students and a staff of four. Now it has around 1,600 students. Girls were admitted to the school in 2003.The pontoon here is named after Leith Menzies, a rowing coach at St Kentigerns for several decades. This stretch of the Tāmaki River is used by other rowing clubs as well, and they launch from the western (opposite) shore.Keep following the shared path along the waterfront.
13. Boardwalks & wetlands
In amongst the mangrovesThe Pakuranga Rotary Shared Pathway was mostly built on dry land in the reserve area between suburban properties and the estuary waters. In places however, there was not this space available, so the pathway became a timber boardwalk vaulting over the tidal water of mangrove inlets. The boardwalk gives you the feeling of being right in amongst the mangroves, and an opportunity to view the wildlife associated with these areas. Mangroves act as ‘ecosystem engineers’. Their branches and roots create drag that removes energy from the system, and dissipates swell and wave energy. Mangroves can also act as an ‘eco defence’ by providing a resilient barrier that minimises coastal erosion.The planting in the wetlands leading to the mangroves creates a filter for the water entering the estuary system, and also provides a habitat for birds. Keep following the shared path along the waterfront.
14. Pōhutukawa
and boatshedsThe aerial roots of this old pōhutukawa tree which hang like beards from the main branches, show that the tree’s main roots are lacking in oxygen. So the tree has responded by putting out supplementary roots in the air.
15. Fossilized Forest
Ancient plant remains tell a storyStop at the remains of the old wharf where the track to Riverlea Ave joins the Rotary Pathway.To the right of the remains of the old wharf there are tree remains visible that are over a million years old. They have been preserved under volcanic deposits and are now getting exposed in the tides. Watch the video with geologist Bruce Hayward to learn how to spot the fossilised tree and plant remains in this area.
16. Landing for cattle
Remains of the American Army landing jettyBarges of the Subritzky Shipping Company would unload cattle here that had been brought in from the islands of the Gulf. The posts are remnants of the stock yards that were here.During the Second World War, the Americans built a concrete landing jetty here, and they used it to unload material going to their nearby camps, Sylvia Park Camp and Camp Bunn. At Sylvia Park they had large sheds holding meat and food, and at Camp Bunn they kep jeeps, trucks, amphibious vehicles and supplies of fuel.The American presence in New Zealand during the war had a great influence on local culture. One direct effect was the revival of popularity of kumara, as the American troops missed sweet potatoes from home.After the war, the Rawhiti a front-loading American supply ship would dock here, bringing surplus war materials to New Zealand.
17. Concrete Bridge Landing
Second Panmure bridge: now goneThese concrete columns are all that remains of the second Panmure bridge. It was built in 1915-1916, to replace to wooden bridge which had a swing mechanism at the Pakuranga end.This second bridge was all-concrete, and 158m long. There was quite a wrangle as to who would pay the construction cost, and a commissioner was appointed to look into the matter. In the end, the bridge was built with financial input from Manukau County Council, the Government and Auckland City Council.The bridge was opened on 14 August 1916, by the Prime Minister William Massey. He drove a heavy traction engine across the bridge to demonstrate its strength.But by 1930, serious faults were noticed in the bridge, with a large crack right across the bridge at the southern end. The reinforcing was found to be badly placed, and the first pier at the Pakuranga end was sinking. The council immediately put a load limit of six tons on the bridge and a speed limit of ten miles per hour. Work got underway on the bridge used today, and in 1959, the unfortunate second bridge was demolished.
18. First Panmure bridge
Remains of the former Panmure swing bridgeYou have come to the end of the tour. You can return by the same route, or catch bus numbers 561 or 72M back to the start point.The Panmure swing bridge was built in 1865. Most of the river was crossed by a wooden bridge, but on the Pakuranga side, there was a steel swing mechanism, which could turn through 90 degrees to make an opening 40 feet (12m) wide, for boats to pass through. Before the bridge was built, a punt would take passengers across the river here. Horses were forced to swim.To help pay for the swing bridge, a toll was collected.The Panmure Bridge Marine building is perched on top of the old swing bridge mechanism. It is the oldest surviving swing mechansim in New Zealand.The wooden part of the swing bridge was demolished in 1916, and a new concrete bridge with a wider deck was built to the north. This second bridge was demolished in 1959, when the Panmure Bridge we use today was opened.
