Kell Park - Kaipatiki

Sunday brought the North Shore Nordic Walkers cold autumnal weather, it was a grey and cloudy start, but at the end of our walk the sun had cracked through. We met in the library car park at Kell Park, Albany. This park is becoming quite a favourite walk, it’s fairly flat and runs adjacent to Lucas Creek. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before but Albany is actually from the Gaelic name Alba, which is the Gaelic name for Scotland.

The Landing used in the past as a terminus for boats travelling to and from Auckland

I did organise a trip to Albany Trig, it’s actually across the road from Kell Park, but the pathway is being repaired at the moment and it’s very slippery underfoot. If you do visit the Trig, take somebody with you as it’s very steep in places and you will have to cross the creek; there is no bridge but it is do-able just take your time and stick to the path. If you make it across there is a lovely waterfall with a picnic table and seats situated just opposite the fall.

To start the walk we turned left and down the steps, turning left again at the bottom of the steps and over the bridge. Walking through the park and past the houses on the left then continuing along the path and onto the Landing area.

Lucas Creek

In the past there was a small Pa situated North of Lucas Creek where Maori would hunt for crayfish and eel, the land around this area was known as Kaipatiki which means 'to eat flounder', or the 'feeding ground of the flounder'.

Many wharves were built around the Landing as water travel was the most common way to transport goods, to travel to and from Auckland, and to travel around the North Shore. The Landing certainly became the most used terminus but was demolished in the 1930’s and has over the years been developed as a residential area.

Massey, Albany Campus

Taking a a right turn once we emerged from The Landing we continued following the footpath along the Albany Highway past Albany Campus, Massey University on the left.

We walked down Bass Road and through the streets to Kinleith Way, had a joke about dropping in for a cuppa at Margaret’s house but pushed on, eventually walking through a small entrance between the houses, following the path alongside the Creek.

The bush and trees along this pathway are full of birds, and it’s interesting to note that many of the  properties overlooking the Creek are laden at this time of year with fruit. I had never seen citrus fruit growing in gardens before I moved to NZ.  Even in Greece and other European countries the fruits I have seen are generally grown in orchards.

The Creek Surrounded by Native Trees and Bush

We crossed the Creek at a small bridge taking the path back onto Albany Highway and  walked back towards The Landing. Small platforms or jetties have been erected along the waterside presumably for fishing and there quite a few ducks out on the water.

The Massey Campus car park was deserted - a strong contrast to what it normally looks like during the week.  Built over 15 years ago the Campus is a huge establishment with a Spanish architectural theme, it’s one of the most modern Universities in New Zealand.

Canon at the top of the Flying Fox

We ambled along the pathway and back into Kell Park where we stopped for while and watched Pam E chicken out of riding the Flying Fox, but I spotted a white duck out on the water so we headed over to take a look. Its a great place to take the kids with a huge slide and cannon for them to explore.

Wooden Sculpture at Albany

We finally made our way across the grass to the children’s play area and had chat by the  bronze sculpture in Albany village square but somehow our cafe arrangements got confused and Cindy and David wandered down the road whilst the rest of us had a muffin and a beverage at the Opium Cafe.  
The lifesize rooster and chair was created by a local artist Joanne Sullivan-Gessler in 2004. It appears that the rooster has attracted some attention from thieves in the past and the life sized sculpture has had a couple of attempted thefts. It must be really heavy and I can't imagine that it would be easy to remove without the use of some kind of equipment.

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'Balance' Rooster Sculpture at Albany Village Square

Anyway I had  a berry smoothie and someone asked what was in it. Apparently it is made of berry concentrate and vanilla powder mixed with ice. Think I may stick with Lemon & Ginger tea on our next visit.

It’s worth mentioning at the end of this week’s blog that I did actually go out on Saturday night to a party, and was rather jaded on Sunday morning. After our walk and on returning home I found I had spent the whole morning walking with my pants on inside out and nobody told me!  Seems that wearing your clothes inside out is supposed to be very lucky, not sure who for though!

Next Sunday I will have the said walking pants back on the right way around!

Information & Sources

http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/aboutcouncil/localboards/devonporttakapunalocalboard/northshorethematicreviewvol2ch6end.pdf

http://www.harboursport.co.nz/site/harsport/files/ACOM/albanyandlucascreek.pdf

http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/international/about-massey_home/masseys-campuses.cfm

The Lucas Creek Walkway

A few of the North Shore Nordic Walkers met at Kell Drive on Sunday to explore Kell Park once again.  It was pretty cold in the morning and the mist was still hanging in the air and the grass was very wet!

Kell park, Albany

One of our regular walkers Pam E passed some walking books to me a few weeks ago, one of which was Explore the Shore, Volume One, Albany& Greenhithe Area Walks.  The booklets are available online or you can collect them from the library and information centres.

Cannon at the top of the Walkway overlooking the creek

The books have been put together by a lady called Margaret Scrymygeour, they are beautifully illustrated with maps and written instructions on local walks.

I have met Margaret at one of the Walk to Work events in Takapuna in 2010 organised by Living Streets Aotearoa and Auckland City Council.  Margaret is a lovely lady with heaps of local knowledge and she put the maps together a while ago; I've used The Harbour Sports website to print her maps, its lovely to see them all professionally published and presented in these wonderful booklets.
As we had already been to Kell Park and wandered about there the previous week I decided that we should try the Kell Park and Lucas Creek Track and take the 5 km walk that features in the booklet.

The painted chooks and some of our Nordic Walkers

We met at the car park which is located in Kell Drive behind the shops and library at Albany.  This is a recently developed suburban area with lots of lovely houses which run adjacent to one of the local and oldest waterways.
Following the instructions we followed the path down to the Creek and took the left hand walkway across the footbridge, walking along the concrete footpath and turned right across the grass into the Nature Reserve. We walked across with wet trainers until we reached Wharf Road and at the signpost for the Reserve we went straight over Wharf Road and continued along the grass, and crossed over onto the Lucas Creek Walkway.

The huge slide at Kell Park

At Kinleith Way there is an exit into a walkway between a couple of houses and crossing the road,  we encountered another walkway which exited at Mahoney Drive, which passed through a third walkway further along Mahoney Drive and exited into Vinewood Drive. 

Following our map we continued and took a right at the playground into Roanoak Way taking yet another walkway between the houses and that’s where it all became very confusing.

Beautiful carved wooden chair in the park

Alan had joined us for our walk this week, Alan usually walks with the group in Northcote but has brought his poles along to walk with us before.  Alan and I agreed that at this point the instructions were a bit confusing so we took a right and followed the path back and eventually made our way to Wharf Road and onto The Landing. What we should have done really was go back across the wet grass to Wharf Road. From The Landing we took a right into Landing Drive and at Widdison Way we crossed over to the walkway and then made our way back to the Nature Reserve.

The Albany Village Logo

We followed the footpath back to Kell Park and back up to the platform where we had earlier met a few of the local dog owners, one of which had tried Nordic Walking at Long Bay in the past. I love the cannon here and there's a huge slide as I mentioned last week and down the steps to the left is the flying fox. We could see eels swimming in the creek below.

At the end of the walk we had the opportunity to stroll around the fruit trees by the children's playground and had a debate over some of the fruit and  what we thought was a pear tree is actually a quince.  There are also some wonderful wooden sculptures in this area, one of which is an enourmous wooden chair beautifully carved from a tree trunk.

After talking for a while we made our way back to the cars and had a coffee at the Opium Cafe, however being so early  on a Sunday we had to take a stroll for 10 minutes while they opened. Despite the dubious name the cafe serves excellent blueberry muffins!

The Chooks

It’s worth noting that there will be Art in the Park next weekend at Kell Park, and if you’re free take the kids or grand children, it’s a great venue and there are some intersting sculptures dotted around.

Make sure you look out for the beautiful painted chooks on the wall.