Today’s discovery walk was at Hobsonville Point. A good friend of mine had already told me about how wonderful the Catalina Cafe is on a sunny day. And then today I read about Hobsonville Pt Park children’s playground which is quite unique – made from sustainably sourced materials.
Access the Google Map for this walk here. Take it with you and follow the blue dot on your screen to navigate and see your progress.
The family friendly walk explores the former air base with the very few remaining old buildings. There is a great deal of development going on with new housing and a planned ferry service to the CBD from ‘The Landing’ (which used to be the launching and landing place for flying boats, including Sunderland and Catalina planes). The historic buildings are being demolished at a fast pace to make way for new housing, so if history is your thing, get down there before it is completely gone.
The walking route is also suitable for prams/buggies and dog walkers (on leash only as of August 2014).
This walk takes about 60-80 minutes and is ideal for spring and autumn (too hot in summer and too muddy in winter). There is a lot to explore if you haven’t been here before. This is a dog friendly walk with an off-leash area and is a mostly flat walk.
Please note: As this area is under constant development, the walking route and the off leash dog exercise area, may be subject to change.
Description: Level sealed paths and bush track. Suitable for users of average fitness and mobility. May require boots in wet weather, running shoes suitable in dry weather. Suggested spring/autumn walk.
Caution: Muddy and slippery when wet.
To see: Hangars, barracks, officers housing, seaplane slipway, Auckland harbour views, weekend markets.
Time: approx. 60-80 minutes. (about 5.5 kms)
Start: Opposite Catalina Café off Buckley Avenue MAP
Suggested Café: Catalina Cafe
You may wish to download our free Hobsonville Point walkway brochure when you enter your contact details here or find your own route here.
Stay on track…get your detailed guide and map (AW-013 Hobsonville Point) over at our Walks Store and our Book Store (one of 12 walks featured in our books “Dog Friendly Walks part 3” and “Best of the West“.
Thank you Helen, I have explored this old military area – its beautiful and has history. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for us Westies to catch a Ferry from Hobsonville into the CBD!
We tried this walk today. I wouldn’t recommend at this stage; there’s a lot that is still under development I.e. the park you start in opposite the cafe, and access to the wharf is blocked off due to roadworks. It’d be interesting if there was access to the buildings they looked like they would be good to explore.
Thank you for letting us know the current status. Hopefully the works will be finished very soon – they are supposed to be starting a ferry service to the city ‘spring 2012’ and surely they want things tidied up by then…. https://www.hobsonvillepoint.co.nz/vision/transport-amenities/
we’ve just got back from a stomp round hobsonville point and followed the “coastal path”, which starts off on boundary road down by the ferry terminal, but, due to all the construction work going on at the moment, is diverted back in-land over a new gravel path. it’s pretty uninspiring for the most part and sadly much of boundary and clark roads are now inaccessible.
i don’t know how many of the old barracks and aerodrome buildings they’re intending to demolish, but if they contiune the present development down into that area, then we’ll tragically lose some of the most interesting industrial archeology in the region. i wish i’d known about this area before they began to destroy it and, to that extent, it might be worth mentioning on the web site that there’s just enough ‘archeology’ left to make it worthwhile exploring if this is your thing. but be quick before they destroy it completely!
cheers
andy