Wise planning saves the surging bays

By COLIN MOORE

Barely a generation ago some of the most exclusive housing areas on Auckland's North Shore were the holiday resorts for the workers of the isthmus.

Resort is probably too grand a word for fibro baches on the fringe of farmland, particularly for tidal estuaries in places like Greenhithe. But when you left the tanneries and meatworks of places like Otahuhu to drive through Silverdale to a sandy beach at Mairangi Bay or Browns Bay, it possibly did seem like a resort regardless of how modest the holiday home might have been.

The advent of the harbour bridge was the beginning of the end for the east coast beaches of the North Shore as bachland. In time, the East Coast Bays would grow into a fully-fledged city as suburban housing surrounded the beaches and spread over the hills behind.

But the Bays, now absorbed into North Shore City, have thankfully not been alienated from the public. On weekends and at holiday time the beaches are still thronged with swimmers, picnickers and children playing.

Yacht clubs and a surf lifesaving club still thrive. In the streets behind the foreshore there are now motels, cafes and restaurants so that the East Coast Bays, while primarily a residential area, is probably more deserving of the description "resort".

Best of all for today's holidaymakers is the foresight that saw the most northern of the string of beaches, Long Bay, saved from development to become one of Auckland's regional parks.

Long Bay, 26km from downtown Auckland, is not the most scenic of the 22-park network that protects 37,280ha of the best of the region for public enjoyment. But the bay and the picnic grounds behind it are the most heavily used. Long Bay was nearly loved to death as seafood gatherers ravaged its shores and threatened to turn the foreshore into a marine desert.

Fortunately, some wise counsel prevailed and first a moratorium on shellfish gathering and then, in 1995, a fully-fledged marine reserve was created along the Long Bay shore and into the adjoining Okura estuary.

The reserve, administered by the Department of Conservation, gives total protection to fish, shellfish, crustaceans and seaweed and mangroves.

Generations to come will be able to go down to Long Bay and see the wonders of marine life left behind in tidal pools.

In time, as the rocky reefs recover, fish will return inshore in numbers to be enjoyed by snorkellers and underwater photographers, just as they are at the Goat Island Marine reserve.

On the headland above the beach there is a walkway that extends around Piripiri Pt to the mouth of the Okura River. When the wind blows across the America's Cup course and hits the cliffs behind Long Bay it creates the perfect thermals on which to fly model glider planes.

The park includes a children's playground, barbecues and a beach shop.

The East Coast Bays have many other attractions for visitors. At Campbell's Bay there is a nature trail in Centennial Park. The route is marked with 73 numbered pegs that note species of native flora.

The bush, cared for by volunteers, is slowly regenerating into a beautiful patch of native forest.

A longer and rougher trail, the Kohekohe Track, branches off the nature trail and runs past the remains of a gumdigger's hut.

The energetic can take a two-and-a-half hour return walk from Mairangi Bay to Browns Bay using several paths that connect beaches, cliff tops and coastal grass reserves. The 8km walk also includes some street walking.

At Murrays Bay there is a long wharf, first built in 1916, that was used to deliver goods to the early East Coast Bays settlements.

The longest section of clifftop walk is between Murrays Bay and Rothesay Bay.

More Info:


For further information on Auckland Regional Parks, ph Parksline (09) 303 1530; Department of Conservation can be reached at (09) 307 9279.

The North Shore City has a comprehensive visitor information centre at Takapuna (ph) 09 486 8670, and Devonport (09) 446 0677.