Auckland Baptist Tramping Club 2003

Nine people (would have been more if the Farmers Santa Parade had not been on the same afternoon) had an interesting time looking at places of historical interest in the Northcote Point area plus a walk underneath the well-known coathanger. We set out at 2pm from the Little Shoal Bay carpark following a route partly based on a heritage trail information brochure available at visitor information centres. This took us first of all into Clarence Rd and past the old police station dating back to 1913. The turret on the roof was added after the house was sold to private owners. Into Queen St we turned, thinking of the fat bearded man in red trooping down the other Queen St, a quiet street in contrast to all the noise across the harbour. There was the old Hellaby butcher shop, and the old Lepper shop and post office. Across the road was the former bakery, and the old Northcote Hotel that still serves its purpose as a drinking clinic, and being St Andrew’s Day a blue and white St Andrew flag was flying. As we carried on past more historic houses the coathanger came into view. Fisherman’s Wharf was a lovely restaurant in its heyday, the 1970s and 1980s, but now its only regular diners are spiders and moths. We walked up to a spectacular lookout right underneath the coathanger. Each one of us would be included in the millions of Aucklanders who would have crossed the harbour bridge umpteen times without giving a single thought about what its underside looks like. As we walked on to Princes St the coathanger above was so low we felt like we were inside a building. We then passed what was the largest house in Northcote at the time it was built about 1906. And so on down to the end of Sulphur Beach Rd for another under-look, this time right at the very northern end of the coathanger and right on Sulphur Beach itself. A walk alongside the motorway brought us through a long tunnel to Stafford Rd and afternoon tea at a nearby reserve. The pohutukawa trees were flowering yellow as well as red. We roadbashed past a few more interesting buildings, including a church and a masonic lodge, to come to Wilding Ave and Le Roys Bush.

A quick drop down a stepped bush track brought us to boardwalks through swamps and back to the carpark right on 4pm to finish an interesting and informative exercise.

COST: travel from The Bracken for each of the two passengers $1-50