My Favourite Walk: A walk around Mangatawhiri

A walk around Mangatawhiri Reservoir

By Mike Giri

Mangatawhiri Reservoir is located in the South East of Hunua Range Regional Park, south of Auckland. There is a loop track around the reservoir. My son Sudeep and I decided to complete the walk on the loop track of Mangatawhiri Reservoir.

We chose to do it in Spring last year. All we wanted was no rain, but the weather turned out to be better than expected. With our preparation to walk for a good part of the day, we set out at about 10 am after breakfast. We took State Highway one from Penrose and exited at Ramarama to continue on Ararimu Road. After about 10 minutes of driving, we turned to Golling Road, and turned right again to Hunua Road, and left to Moumoukai Road, where we crossed Auckland/Waikato border. After some time following the direction, we arrived at the Upper Mangatawhiri Dam Car park and Campground.

It is a beautiful area with water and toilet facilities with green hillrange on the north-east side. There is adequate car parking for the day visitors, the trampers and campers. There is also an information board, Above The reservoir showing low water level as an effect of last summer’s drought

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as well as brochures describing the walking tracks and related information of the area.

After changing, we picked up necessary things for the walk, and started at about 11 am, taking the side road heading towards the dam. After crossing a gate, that was closed for the public vehicles, we reached another smaller car park with a toilet facility.

We continued our uphill walk from there. It took about 10 minutes to reach the height of the dam. It was a beautiful area surrounded by green hills around the reservoir. One could easily see the effect of last summer’s drought by looking at the lower water level.

There was a spillway for draining excess water from the dam. We crossed it and continued our walk on Lilburne Road which is a winding uphill road with dense green vegetation on both sides of the road. Tree ferns and radiata pines were quite common on this part. It is a part of the service road and is fairly well maintained.

After walking an hour and a half, we saw the Rata Ridge Track diverting on the right. We continued on Lilburne Road for another 30 minutes and came to the Piggot Camp-ground where we had lunch. There is a little hut for night stay and a toilet.

After 15 minutes, we continued our walk further, crossing a small stream by a wooden culvert, and our climb started on Ernies Track. It was really a steep climb and at places, with wooden steps, not one or two, there were several of them.

I particularly had to catch my breath a few times before we reached the highest point (497 m), where we met other walkers. There was a bench to rest and the views around were stunning and one could see far and wide. Even the reservoir was visible far down below.

From here Ernies Track was all downhill, sometimes quite steep. After about 20 minutes, there was another viewpoint, where a bench was also built. The view from this

Above: Upper Mangatawhiri Reservoir Camping ground with Car Park, information Centre, and toilet. Below left: Spillway drainage of the reservoir. Below right: Piggot campground, hut with toilet.

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A walk around Mangatawhiri Reservoir

point was very beautiful, especially the gully (St Paul Stream) below and Lilburne Road on the other side. where we met some other walkers. After almost finishing the downhill, we passed through a small bamboo bush.

After another 30 minutes, we reached Mangatawhiri Stream. We took a tea break there and sat near the water. whose flow seemed to be at its low for the season. Then, we crossed the stream and continued our walk along the relatively leveled surface where we saw a couple of seasonal wildflowers, and also met a couple from Auckland.

This section of the track used to be very muddy and swampy. The Council has constructed a boardwalk that made it easier for walkers and trampers to avoid hassle and saving

Above: The highest point of the track, David, from left: Rachel David sitting on and Sudeep standing near the bench. Below: Wild Flowers: An Alseuosmia macrophylla (Crimson), B Clematis paniculata (White).

on time as well. Thereafter, we had to cross another three smaller streams before we met Waterline Road on the other side.

The Waterline Road is also a part of the service road for the water-shade management around the reservoir. This road comparatively has a gentle slope, winding along the side of the reservoir, but did take a good part of an hour to reach.

From there I looked back and could figure out what a nice and pleasant track we had followed through, and felt yet closer to nature and saw its miracles. Instead of starting from Lilburne Road, one can also start from Waterline Road. It is just a matter of personal choice.

In 1994, 25 breeding pairs of kokako birds were counted in the region which was reduced to a few females only by 1996. Thereafter, some pairs of kokako were introduced from King Country and now the condition has improved to 50 breeding pairs and are doing well - a successful conservation story. I also saw a jungle fowl

.crossing the road at one place and also a couple of beautiful flowers: Clematis paniculata (white) and Alosuosmia macrophylla . Other nearby tracks are: Upper Mangatawhiri Track diverting from Ernies Track near the top, and making a loop with Mangatangi Ridge Track. The total length of our loop track from the car park and back (Map) is about 16 km; about 60% is covered by fairly easy service roads and the other 40% constitute the harder part of the four categories. It took nearly 7.00 hours including lunch and tea breaks. On the whole, it is a bit of a challenging track with a lot of greenery and beautiful scenery, especially from the ridges.

At 6.30 pm we drove back following the same path and reached home by 7.30 pm and called it a day. Above: Conserved Kokako flew past us and sat on a tree branch..

Below left: Mangatawhiri stream crossing.

Below right: Wooden stwps on Ernies track (after the campground)..