Ambury Park to Mangere Lagoon

This run was an unusual one - passing by bird sanctuaries, working farmland, buried landfill and a wastewater treatment plant on the Manukau Harbour. But don’t be put off by the landfill or wastewater plant – the run is better than it sounds.




An accidental discovery

On Monday (Labour Day – a public holiday), we dropped off our dear friend Bridget at the airport after a weekend together. Since the motorway exit to the suburb of Mangere Bridge is on the way back to our house from the airport, we decided to do this week’s run there. It's a pleasant little community which has lots of nice outdoor recreation spaces including a nice waterfront, Ambury Regional Park and Mangere Mountain.

We had intended to do a loop starting from Ambury Park, taking in Mangere Mountain before heading back via the town centre and the north-facing waterfront reserve.

But with no map and with signage which can only be described as crap, we ended up on the ‘Watercare Coastal Walkway’. This area was clearly once industrial, undervalued land which was used for landfill and oxidation ponds and the like. There's been huge projects, I read, to clean this place up and it's now a combination of being lovely and horrible at the same time. Lovely because it’s alongside the sea and has many bird-only islands, and horrible because of occasional wafts of pongy air out of vents from the old landfill now buried underground, not to mention the ugly view of the Watercare plant.

From this walkway we couldn’t seem to find a way back to our planned route, so we just carried on. You have to be a bit flexible when discovering new off-road runs!

After looping the Mangere Lagoon, we decided to turn back. With no tree cover our pasty white winter skin was getting burned (despite the sunscreen) and we were tired from a full-on weekend.

We took a shortcut through Ambury Farm on the way back instead of following the coast. I must say I was relieved to get back to the car and immediately directed Kelvin towards the nearest dairy for an icecream. This is becoming a habit!

We promised to return to do the run in our original plan, so look out for this in future posts, and let me know if you want to join us.

Maps

Here is a mapometer map of this run – nearly 9k. Not really so far considering there were no hills, but it was a hot day and it was very exposed in the heat of the afternoon sun.

See the Watercare Coastal Walkway page on the Watercare website. I was impressed that such a lot of work has been done here to clean up the area and make it bird and human-friendly.

This walkway is also part of the ‘Kiwi esplanade walkway’ – you can learn more about this on the Manukau City Council website. You’ll see it extends even further down the coast than Mangere Lagoon.

See the Ambury Regional Park page on the Auckland Regional Council website for more information on Ambury Park.

Note: I just saw that Auckland Council has put a note on all the websites which means they may be changing to the Auckland Council website soon. I'll fix these links if the information no longer appears on the page.

Evaluation

• Distance: approx 9km
• Terrain: Completely flat
• Track type and condition: Ambury Park has no tracks, just grass. Watercare track is gravel and wide enough for vehicles. Around Mangere Lagoon is another, thinner, gravel track
• Mud: In winter the grass tracks may turn a bit muddy but we are well into spring in Auckland now so there was none
• Views: Amazing views across the Manukau Harbour to Onehunga and Hillsborough, Puketutu Island and you can even see west as far as Whatipu and the harbour mouth
• Novelty: Very novel for us – it was my first time ever to Mangere Bridge, and I am surprised Ambury Park wasn’t one of our family picnic destinations when we were kids as it’s very pretty. Perhaps it was overwhelmed by wastewater ponds and smells back then
• Remoteness: Not remote at all as the suburbs of Mangere Bridge are nearby. But when we were on the Mangere Lagoon track it felt very empty and rural.
• Toilets: At Ambury Park
• Crowd factor: Ambury Park was quite busy with picnickers and walkers, but as we headed south along the coast we saw less and less people. At Mangere Lagoon it was just us. On the way back we saw a family on bikes – this area would be great to take the family for a biking day out
• Watch out for: Sunburn and dehydration as there’s no shade. Smells from the waste water (but it’s not really that bad). No dogs are allowed in Ambury Park, and neither birds nor people are allowed on the bird islands. Oh and it was really windy on the coast – even though it wasn’t a windy day at all anywhere else. I’d be careful out here if it was actually a properly windy day!
• Extra for experts: Keep heading south along the track before heading back – it takes in the Otuataua Stonefields Historic reserve. Or you could head for Mangere Mountain if you’re looking for a really long, challenging run.
  

Verdict

Not too bad for an unexpected discovery but some parts felt a bit empty and wasteland-like. I’m definitely looking forward to doing the run we originally planned.