Last week we had a local walk and I didn’t really have
much to say about it, but this Sunday North Shore Nordic Walkers met at Hobsonville in the morning; we parked opposite the Catalina Cafe and it was quite an adventure. I copied a
map from the Internet to try a walk around Hobsonville
Point. Unfortunately some of the walk had been interrupted by
earthworks for new housing and school development and a good portion of it
wasn’t easy to access. The place was
really busy though, they have a traditional farmers market on a Sunday at 9.00
am and the place was already bustling as we passed through.
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| The Catalina Cafe |
We crossed over the road at the Corner of Buckley Ave and Hastings Crescent and
walked around the back of Catalina Cafe. We poled past the community plant network garden,
down past the children’s playground and past many of the old service buildings.
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| The Quaint Church or Pump House |
Hobsonville Point was previously
the Royal New Zealand Air Force airfield,
set aside for development at the start of the millennium and is now emerging as a
new semi rural suburb of Auckland, located on the North Western shore of Waitamata Harbour and
named after the first governor of New Zealand.
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| Signposts around the Coastal Walk Path |
Originally the area was
used for farming, what I found interesting and a few of our walkers commented
on, was that the earth that had been dug up by the bulldozers was mainly clay. Apparently there were clay and brickworks in
the area and most of the pipe work in Auckland would have been made there.
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| Some of our Nordic Walkers at the Landing |
In the 1920’s the Royal New
Zealand Air Force built the airbase which later joined up with Whenuapai airfield. Later in the 1930’s
the air strip was evidently too short and the area was used as a repair and equipment
utility. Eventually in early 2000 the RNZAF relocated most of its logistics and operations elsewhere.
Walking through the old air base was really kind of eery, we all had that
feeling that we shouldn’t be there, there were lots of signs stating that the
area was strictly for Defence personnel only.
We made our away across the tarmac path and down to the Landing, this
area was used by the old seaplanes, it’s a small concreted area that faces the sea,
this will become the new Hobsonville wharf and ferry terminal.
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| View from the Landing |
Eventually we came across signposts that lead us onto Bomb Point, it looked like there was a path in the grass and another walk. We didn’t venture down the path but continued to the airfield where a sign told us to look out for the wind socks. Well with no wind socks in view we picked our way across the building site and walked across to where the new primary school would eventually be built.
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| Sign for Bomb Point which wasn't half as exciting as we expected |
It was at this point when we came across a couple of ladies we saw
earlier on the car park outside the Catalina cafe. I asked about any further
walks and they pointed us in the direction
of the yellow bridge so away we tramped, passing a pump station that we
thought at first was a small church. We crossed over the road and made our way
across the Memorial Park and onto Clarks Lane Footbridge.
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| Not a single windsock in sight! |
The bridge is indeed canary yellow and is tiled at the edges with
beautiful details, each tile along the end had some cycle or truck tread artwork being
the creation of Matt and Kate McLean. They have
been put together most decoratively and add a lovely touch to what could have
been a boring path across a very busy highway.
From the bridge you can see what would have been some of the homes used by the pilots whilst working at Whenuapai airfield. Mary
pointed out some of the traditional houses and from where we stood we could
also take a good view of the Sinton Windows Sculpture which was apparently created
using recovered materials.
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| Clark Lane Footbridge |
We were now ready for a coffee so we headed back past the park
towards the cafe, however as usual we were distracted by the new housing
development and took a slight detour to have a nosey at the new homes.
Once satisfied that we weren't missing anything we ventured back past a lovely
kiddies playground and onto the Catalina Cafe.
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| Matt and Kate McLean Tiles |
The cafe was doing a roaring trade with hungry shoppers and walkers, however
the queuing was short and service was fast, and I had two poached eggs on
toast with lemon and ginger tea! Some of
the group went off to see the farmers market and the remainder made our way back
to the car park.
 |
| Sinton
Windows Sculpture |
I think we’ll be returning to Hobsonville as it’ll be interesting to see
the finished result - I might even go back and explore some of the other
paths.
Information and Sources:
http://www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Council/Consents/Notified%20applications/HobsonvilleLandco/Appendix%2010-21/Appendix%2010%20-%20Archaeological%20Assessment.pdf
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