Auckland Baptist Tramping Club 2003

Another first for the Club - a walk taking in the beauty of the twilight hours of daylight saving and watching the sun go down. 15 people enjoyed this pleasant stroll, finishing at a cafe afterwards We set out from outside the old Devonport post office (now Jackson’s Muzeum) walking along King Edward Parade past nice historic houses and shops on the left and the waters of the Waitemata harbour and Duders Beach on our right. Ahead was the headland of North Head. We cut across to Cheltenham Beach and paused to take in the beauty of a calm sea at high tide, very inviting on a hot summer’s day and very pleasant on a mild spring twilight. Rangitoto Island bathed in the early evening sunlight added to the glory. A half-minute walk along the foreshore brought us to Balmain Park then a roadbash inland to cross Devonport Domain and into Cambria Reserve. Cambria was one of Auckland’s 60-odd extinct volcanic cones that has unfortunately been ruined by quarrying, but what had been left has been transformed into a lovely park with interesting walkways built with volcanic stone walls. At one lookout point a “table” had been built in the shape of a map of the old Devonport Borough. From there we went straight up Mt Victoria in time to see the sun set. On the way up we saw clumps of cinerarias in their beautiful but short-lived blaze of blue, pink and mauve flowers, and passed The Bunker, built as part of the World War II fortifications and now serves as the home for a folk music club. Another place of interest was a World War II gun that has been restored. This gun was part of a defence against an attack from the Japanese that never happened. The sun set right on 8pm, its golden orb sinking behind the Waitakere Ranges. Lights began to come on in the suburb of Devonport below us, the Waitemata Harbour, and Auckland city and suburbs beyond.

A cool breeze sprung up, and we decided to go back down the hill before darkness closed in. We relaxed over dessert coffee and (for one or two) pasta entrees at one of the cafe restaurants to bring to a finish a wonderful evening.