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The magnificent Manukau Harbour has its entrance at the Manukau Heads which is about 15 minutes drive from Awhitu District School. There is a short climb to a spectacular viewing platform above the Signal Station. It was on the Manukau Heads sandbar that 'HMS Orpheus' foundered on the 7th February 1863. Today the entrance is used at high tide by cement carriers and smaller container ships utilizing the port of Onehunga.
Also here is the Manukau Heads Lighthouse. The top section was saved when the old structure was demolished in 1986, and this new base, built to the original 1870's design, was built by a local craftsman.
The top was only positioned at the beginning of September 2006!
A view of the notorius sandbar from the Signal Station on the southern side of the Manukau Heads.
The northern tip of the Heads at Whatipu which can be visited by a drive through Titirangi and Huia.
One of the small container ships - 'Spirit of Vision' crossing the sandbar at high tide.
Looking towards Huia and the inner harbour.
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Now we'll take you on a tour of the beautiful bays and beaches that surround our wonderful peninsula. First stop.......
Wattle Bay
Just around the corner from the Heads is 'The Blowhole'and 'Cake Island'. Around the next tip you
you are into the first of our populated areas - Wattle Bay. This is the furtherest point of our school bus route and also the secret hideaway of some of the juiciest oysters you can find.
Wattle Bay - a mixture of West Coast ironsand and white sand of the inner harbour.
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Looking eastward towards Orpheus Rock and Orua Bay
MV 'Spirit of Vision' passing Wattle Bay on it's way to Onbehunga
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The next hidden treasure you will come to as you walk around the corner from Wattle Bay is Orpheus Rock. A very popular fishing spot which can become hugely populated by visitors at weekends and on holidays.
Orua Bay
Another short stroll and you will come to the long curve of Orua Bay with its mixture of very old and more up-to-date baches.
Looking back along the beach to Orpheus Rock and the more traditional-type Kiwi Bach.......
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.... a bit like this one with its very basic design and comforts.....
...... or as we venture further along we pass by some more elaborate and stylish holiday homes like this one.
Off again towards another point, around which we will surely find more bays, beaches and homes of more of our pupils.
Continue with your leisurely walk towards the east and you will have the International Airport in your sights across the harbour. Many hours have been spent around this area watching the Jumbo Jets roar overhead as they depart for the four corners of the earth.
Suddenly you arrive at .......
Big Bay
Big Bay - home to several school families and staff members. In the distance is the McDonald family farm - site of Pony Club and Scout camps and hours of fun with father John usually creating it.
Local resident - Graeme Templeton - enjoying the beautiful bay and its countless opportunites for leisure and recreation.
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Now we're almost at the north-eastern tip of the peninsula where we are forced to trek southwards towards the twin beaches of .......
Hudsons' Beach
Twin Norfolk Pines mark the ends of this small, but bountiful source of shellfish.
Footprints leading north and south mark the trails of the many beach strollers that frequent all of the Peninsula beaches and bays.
Could be pipis or could be cockles. Then again - is it the scallop season? Whatever these gatherers are after, those people across the harbour in Sky City have no idea what they're missing.
and.......
Graham's Beach
The combination of green grass and white sand make Graham's Beach one of the most popular family spots for swimming and watersports.
A beautiful spot with Titirangi beyond and the panorama of Auckland City and its many suburbs as a backdrop.
What better spot to view the world and the rest of New Zealand flying overhead than here at Graham's Beach.
Golf Course
As we continue our trek southwards on the eastern side of the Awhitu Peninsula we pass a smaller inlet at the end of Colbeck Road - great oysters - and on to Dickey's Landing by the beautiful Awhitu Golf Club.
Looking down from the highest point of the Golf Course with a glimpse of the tiny island of Kauritutahi and the harbour stretching across to Papakura in the distance.
The eighth hole heading back towards the clubhouse and the start of the back nine.
If you have never played this course you have missed one of the best scenic walks in the Auckland district.
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Awhitu Regional Park
The views from the lookout at the top of ARP walkway are enhanced by the panoramic painting that points out all of the prominent landmarks and points of interest that can be picked out around the harbour from the Waitakeres to the Steel Mill.
Looking northwards towards Dickey's Landing, Brooks Beach and the ARP farmland that makes up a large part of the park itself.
The painting that helps visitors to the park identify all those hills and other prominent features around the Manukau Harbour. It even has cows in it - but they tend to move around a bit.
Glancing to the south we see Clarks Beach over the harbour and our very popular Matakawau Point just beyond the park. Matakawau is now connected to the ARP by a walkway that has recently been planted with hundreds of native trees and shrubs.
Between the ARP and Matakawau is the very well set up Environmental and Presbyterian Church camps. A very popular bases for groups including our own school which makes good use of the facilities offered.
A popular walk in the park is along the beach to Brooks Homestead. Then it's back to the carpark through the green grasslands and livestock that make our park so picturesque.
It's a short walk from the parks back gate to the Matakawau Walkway. This cliff top walk, created by local residents links Matakawau with the Regional Park.
A pleasant walk, much of it shaded by the essential, and elderly, Pohutakawa's whose roots are just about holding the cliff together.Looking forward, we can just see Glenbrook Beach the other side of the estuary and if we stop long enough to look back.....
We can see the park spread out.
All too quickly we've arrived at the waterside village also called Matakawau.
A short car drive to the other side of the peninsula brings us to the Tasman Sea and the West Coast
With the black sand and high sandstone cliffs, this coast has a savage beauty, but it's also dangerous. The is full of rips and the cliffs, little more than hard sand, are eroded at the bottom by the sea and slip without warning.
This slip, which occurred during the winter of 2005, dropped over an hectare of David Craigs farm into the Tasman sea. That 'peninsula' runs out to sea some 400 metres and is nearly ten metres high. Despite this, we still have visitors climbing and trying to ride motor vehicles up theses cliffs!