Twenty-four people showed up to explore the historic Otuataua Stonefields at Ihumatao near Mangere, even
though the weather looked a bit ominous after a sunny morning. About half the group met at The Bracken
at 1:30pm, and joined up with the others at the carpark on Ihumatao Quarry Rd.
After the usual
intros and a karakia we set out along the Geology Walk route, marked by blue stones. This brought us
to the Puketaapapa Cone, one of Auckland’s numerous extinct volcanoes.
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Unfortunately we were not allowed to go to the summit of the cone, which is sacred to the local Maori
people. However we were able to view a lava cave and other geological features.
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Having completed the Geology Walk we went down to join the coastal track, looking out across the
water to Puketutu Island.
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Sunshine came out as we went on to the bird hide - but it was the other kind which made us glad to
be in the shelter.
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But we weren’t in there long - we soon found ourselves braving the light liquid sunshine as we followed
the coastline. The largest of several beaches was black with ironsand, believed to have originated from
Mt Taranaki and washed in from the Manukau Harbour entrance.
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We turned inland and came to a large rock. We could not resist the temptation to climb it.
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As we carried on through the stonefields, we were able to see the two types of sunshine mixed. The
light liquid sunshine persisted as we went through the site of an old quarry and back to the carpark,
finishing before 4pm.
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