Going Outdoors: Little Shoal Bay & Le Roys Bush

After missing a couple of weeks walking due to hubby working in Malaysia, I decided that a change of venue was in order for North Shore Nordic Walkers and I planned a walk around the Northcote area at little Shoal Bay. In fact I came across the map and walk directions in one of the free booklets ‘Explore the Shore’ put together by Margaret Scrymgeour last year. I met Margaret at one of the ‘Walk to Work” events organised by Living Streets a couple of years ago, she’s a local lady and a keen walker and she put together a collection of walker maps a few years back and they are available on the Harbour Sport website. It's great to see that they have all been collated and put together in three volumes covering many of the scenic bush and walking tracks on the North Shore.

Bird perched on a stump on the wetland

I have visited the area once before and Little Shoal Bay is beautiful with fabulous views of the Sky Tower, Harbour Bridge and the city. The wetlands are located across the Northcote and Birkenhead areas of the North Shore. Northcote Point was formerly known as Stokes Point which was originally named Te Onewa, the name for basalt rock in Maori; the name is also used for “divided earth”. Originally much of this area was a fortified village, palisaded and entrenched around the surrounding Pa. The bush and coast provided a great source of food and shellfish and was an ideal settlement for many generations of Iwi.

Little Shoal Bay Reserves

In 1841 Onewa was sold to the Government, the Crown purchasing the whole of the Shore between 1840 and 1854.

In the mid 1800’s Northcote Point had a regular ferry service until 1864 when steam boats came into service. Several steam companies evolved but around 1881 most had sold out to the Devonport Steam Ferry Service and the Northcote ferries were discontinued. The following year the Northcote and Ponsonby Ferry Company re-established the service; then in 1892 the Devonport Steam Ferry Company began running services to Northcote, until the Harbour Bridge was opened.

Walking the Boardwalk with Poles

A gentleman called Le Roy purchased most of the land around the area in 1918 and apparently he was an outstanding and upright citizen, providing much work for many men during the depression, he paid the men to develop the area into what is now called Le Roys Bush.

Harbour Bridge from Little Shoal Bay

Little Shoal Bay is small with a tiny sandy beach, it has a children’s play area and other outdoor activity equipment. Opposite on the grassland there is a cricket pitch and as you cross the grass on the left there is the entrance onto the boardwalk that leads into the bush walkways.

The weather was great and we all met and parked at Little Shoal Bay Reserve at 8.00 am at Marine Terrace on Sunday morning. We had a great turnout and one of the Northcote walkers Alan turned up and helpfully guided us through the Reserves and Le Roys Bush. We took a right across the footbridge to the trails and walked though the wetlands, first catching sight of what looked like a wetland bird possibly a shag although I couldn’t get a clear shot and it flew away as I crept closer.

Stunning Bush and Walkways throughout the Reserves

The wetlands are superb and constantly kept reasonably free of choking weeds by volunteers on a regular basis. The native plants and trees such as the Kauri and Silver Fern Ponga are in constant conflict with weeds such as Blue Morning Glory and Honey Suckle which are prevalent here in New Zealand and are classed as noxious weed.

Streams with Fish and Eels

The walkway along the wetland is mainly timber boardwalk and I would advise that you keep your paws on your poles whilst using them as they aren’t pole friendly and Grace one of our Nordic Walkers had a struggle keeping the pole tips out of the gaps along some of the walkways.

The walk was quite steep in some parts and some of the group took a slightly easier route at one of the bush exits whilst the hardiest of us tramped back along the street and up the hill.
We wandered though the area, thankful that we did have Alan with us, being a local he was on hand to guide us through the bush and back onto the walkways. Just before Chelsea Heritage Estate walkway we were joined by a walker who asked if she could join us, although she did look a little bemused by the poles. She followed us as we wandered though Chelsea Heritage Estate Park and out the other side onto the road. As we looked to the right we could see Birkenhead Wharf at the bottom of the road. We then made a left turn where we parted company with our new walker companion and continued along the pavements through the streets back to Little Shoal Bay and onto the car park.

Chelsea Heritage Estate Park
(Famous Chelsea Sugar Refinery)

The walk in all took about 1 hour and 50 minutes, it was hard going in parts but was very enjoyable, and I would recommend that you take a map and plenty of water if you wish to try it.

We took the cars up the hill to a local place called the Ravenhill Cafe for coffee and enjoyed our refreshments in the courtyard. I had set out the various walking booklets that I have collected to plan our walks for the next few weeks and we selected some interesting new walks and some old favourites.