History. It might not have been your favourite subject at school, but out here in the real world, it’s undeniably an attraction when you’re exploring. Pretty old houses, stately buildings, well-presented museums, long-established gardens — they are often fascinating and nostalgic features of a visit anywhere, writes Pamela Wade.
But how about, as well as the past, getting a taste of the future? Hobsonville Point, one of Auckland’s newest and fastest-growing suburbs, delivers an unexpectedly interesting and entertaining experience that combines both.
Getting there
Located on a peninsula on Auckland’s Upper Harbour, Hobsonville is accessible by SH18 from north or south. Much more fun and scenic, though, is the ferry ride from the central city. Gliding away from the busy ferry terminal, you get great views back towards the city skyscrapers and over the multi-million-dollar floating residents of Westhaven Marina.
Soon you’re passing underneath the harbour bridge, getting a beautifully framed vista of the central city. You might even see the Maritime Museum’s heritage scow Ted Ashby sailing by, or Fuller’s futuristic new hydrofoil ferry, Kermadec. The distinctive pink buildings of the Chelsea Sugar Factory slide past on the right and then, less than half an hour from departure, you arrive at Hobsonville Point’s long jetty.
Getting around: While there is a bus service, the best way to explore is on foot and helpfully, the terrain is mostly flat. Two intersecting routes to follow are the coastal walkway Te Ara Manawa and the Didsbury Art Trail, both looping for five easy kilometres around the peninsula. On Saturday mornings, you’ll have the company of the popular Park Run (feel free to join in!).
Points of interest
Before you have even properly set foot ashore, you’ll have discovered that there is some lively history here. The Catalina Bay name is the first clue, and the storyboards along the jetty introduce you to Hobsonville Point’s role in aviation, both civilian and military, starting in 1929.
Sheltered waters meant seaplanes were the primary focus, most notably the giant Short Sunderland flying boats. They were phased out in 1967, but the immense Sunderland hangar remains, one of many heritage Air Force buildings on the Point. Dominating the waterfront here, it now houses the Little Creatures brewery and several eateries – t’s well worth spending some time here.
If you’ve arrived on a weekend morning, the Farmer’s Market is notable for its many different food vendors offering a wide range of ingredients and ready-to-eat dishes. From honey to gozleme, smoked meats to dumplings, fresh fruit to Italian breads, it’s all so hard to resist. There are also more general stallholders outside the main market building, and with the charming Fabric Café Bistro also nearby, there’s a lot to enjoy in the Catalina Bay precinct.
There are even more delights to discover from the top of the steps, where both trails begin. You will already have admired Virginia King’s elegant Hinaki eel trap sculpture on the jetty. Louise Purvis’s sinuous Estuarine curling along a nearby gabion wall is just as entrancing, while the 10m-high corten steel pied shag further along the trail is both impressive and fun (it’s also a slide). And so, it continues: giant toy windmills, a cosily shrouded pohutukawa, big steel seedpods in a playground, pleasingly smooth works in marble and basalt. Each is explained by the artist on a downloadable podcast.
Whether you stick to the Art Trail, or veer off along the coastal walkway’s detours, there’s so much to enjoy. Despite being so close to the city, it’s marvellously quiet and peaceful as you walk along the shoreline and through spacious green parkland and bird-busy stretches of bush. There’s always something to take your interest, whether it’s cute and intricate fairy houses on tree trunks or solid remnants of the Point’s aviation past.
Onekiritea Point is better known locally as Bomb Point, and concrete tunnels lead through earth berms to brick storage magazines for munitions that included bombs, torpedoes and missiles. You’ll also pass the Rifle Range, its pockmarked rear wall now the backdrop of a small auditorium built for community events.
Community is an important, and highly valued, part of Hobsonville life. Unlike most suburbs that grew organically, this one has been master-planned from the start, with public spaces given high priority for local interactions. The housing lining Hobsonville’s wide, tree-shaded streets is focused on sustainability, and is mostly terraced, in a wide variety of attractive designs and materials. The small gardens encourage a focus on the public parks and facilities. It’s a different way of living and feels like a taste of the future. It certainly seems to suit the residents who populate the parks and gardens, exercising with children and dogs, and invariably offering a friendly greeting as they pass.
The walkway continues, past arty playgrounds, a community garden and brightly painted book exchanges. A detour to local institution the Catalina Café feels like a must.
The western side of the circuit includes a couple of pleasingly curved bridges, and bush-framed views across the Upper Harbour to Herald Island. It’s worth branching off here to take a look at Sunderland Avenue’s rows of former Air Force family homes. Their orange roof tiles and weatherboard walls offer a striking contrast to the modern houses that dominate the streets, as do the two-storeyed Officers’ Homes further along. The stately Mill House nearby, built in 1929 and surrounded by tall trees, is another architectural trip back in time.
The trail continues to wind along the coast, the tree-lined path morphing into a long boardwalk through a mangrove swamp and along the shore again. You then find yourself back once more at Catalina Bay, with plenty of options for rewarding yourself for your — moderate — effort while you wait for the next ferry.
More information
Read about Hobsonville Point, download the Art Trail podcast and map, and study the two walkway routes www.hobsonvillepoint.co.nz
Ferries run at roughly 45-minute intervals from Pier 7 near Auckland’s Ferry Building.
The Hobsonville RSA has a campground for self-contained vehicles www.hobsonvillersa.org.nz
