About halfway along we hear what sounds like the cooing of doves. We can't see them but they must be nesting in crevices in the sandy cliff face, which is interesting as I have seen this area referred to as Crows Nest Rise, although there are no crows visible.
Moments further along we're at Murrays Bay and watching a flotilla of schoolchildren launch their little Optimists into what must be still-freezing water. This is part of the city-wide Waterwise programme and children at several North Shore schools are lucky enough to learn to sail as part of this volunteer-run initiative.
We don't feel brave enough to dip so much as a toe into the water and so crossing Murrays Bay we pick up the pathway across the grassy patch at the northern end, and climb past what one of my maps refers to as Tatarata Point.
We continue past the back fences of some palatial homes with luxuriant gardens, and a few hanging on to their bachy heritage. It is sad but easy to imagine the speed at which the bulldozers will despatch them over the next few years.
Signs warn us to keep to the paths and we do, remembering how sandy and unstable some of the cliff edges can be, but the great views across the Hauraki Gulf out to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula keep us happy.
From this high point we wind down to Churchill Reserve and, although we don't continue down to the little cove here, we have a rest on one of the seats that offer us a grandstand view out to sea.
Then it's back up on to the cliff edge to take what is signposted as the Gumdiggers Trail. Apparently in the 19th century most of the bays had gumdiggers' camps, where a living could be earned by fossicking for the gum left behind by the kauri that had once crowded forests all the way to the waterfront.
At the end of this stretch the trail takes a brief detour off the cliff edge and on to the quiet suburban streets towards Rothesay Bay. We head back up the path to another seat at Dan Jones Bluff from where we can catch glimpses of Browns Bay below.
Because we have time, we trot down there and debate whether we'll stop for coffee, but then decide to turn and head back the way we came.
Just as well because I wouldn't have missed the lunch I had at the Paper Moon cafe for anything.