A fine and sunny afternoon brought out almost forty people and one dog to climb Mangere Mountain and do a foreshore walk at nearby Ambury Regional Park. The dog had to miss out on the Ambury walk as it was on a working farm. We started from the soccer clubrooms at the end of Domain Rd on Mangere Mountain to go up the mountain by what is known as the Landmarker Walk, a route that follows the actual ridge of the volcanic cone a full semicircle to the summit. The walk takes its name from a series of  “landmarkers” or small stone sculptures depicting aspects of the mountain’s pre-European Maori history such as the kumara pits and the terraces on which the houses were built. As we climbed the hill, we were able to look out all over the Mangere and Manukau Harbour, including the inner Manukau Harbour, the airport, Otuataua Stonefields (where we would be tramping three weeks hence, on 26 August), Puketutu Island, the oxidation ponds (two of which have been “demolished” or breached to allow the tide to flow in and out), Manukau Heads and Ambury Regional Park. From the summit we could look out across the inner harbour to Onehunga with One Tree Hill, Mt Eden and the Sky Tower behind.

We returned to the cars via the main track, a vehicle track closed to public vehicle access. Gary decided to cut across the hummocky crater for a bit of extra exercise. Ambury Regional Park was five minutes’ drive in the cars from Mangere Mountain, and was the venue for our second walk. Starting from the carpark outside the visitor centre we did the yellow-markered Shoreline Walk in an anticlockwise direction, crossing farm paddocks to reach the rocky shoreline of the Manukau Harbour.

Ambury Regional Park is on the lava flow from Mangere Mountain, which is why the foreshore is uneven and has spectacular lava rock formations. As well as walk on some of this rocky foreshore, we saw a small lava cave in the form of a shallow sinkhole in the pasture, with narrow slot-like entrances.

Just before we arrived back at the carpark we stopped to pet some lambs that were in the pens beside the woolshed - an extra special treat for the children on the tramp. COST: $1-60