Narrowneck to Milford Coastal Walk - 6th Jan. 2007

Yesterday's odyssey was undertaken with Homer, as Nickname Pending was at the cricket.

The Narrowneck, Takapuna and Milford coastal walk was down for three hours in the Day Walks of Greater Auckland book, but in fact it took us more like three and a half. Although there were some pauses for photos, sea glass and ice cream, we didn't stop enough to justify the extra half hour, so I suspect that the book did not include walking to the other end of Milford Beach, which we did because I used to sail from there.

We drove towards Devonport and turned off for Narrowneck, then parked in the large car park on the other side of the road from the beach reserve.

The path from Narrowneck to Takapuna beach is actually non-existent. You simply clamber around the rocks (if the tide is high-ish) or walk around the sand in a northly direction heading towards Milford. We started out at about 1.30pm and high tide had been at 10.15am. There was still quite a lot of awkward clambering, but on the return journey the tide had gone out considerably more and it was a comfortable walk along the sand in most places.

Once at Takapuna it's a matter of walking along the beach to the far end (where there's an ice cream shop) and then following the path around the coast to Milford. This path is sometimes concrete, sometimes shell, and even a wooden boardwalk at one point. There is some interesting lava, lots of lichen, and yesterday there was a good view (if you had binoculars) of the 470 World's, which was based at Takapuna Beach.

Here are some snaps:

Looking back at Narrowneck from the rocks.

Cliffs between Narrowneck and Takapuna

Cormorant with 470 fleet in background.

Some mysterious rusting metal between Narrowneck and Takapuna

Typical shell and stone litter between the rocks.

Moss on the rocks between Takapuna and Milford.

A sand pattern wot I liked, between Takapuna and Narrowneck.

A NZ-shaped rock formation Homer spotted.

Rangitoto from the sand.

All up a very pleasant meander, I recommend decent walking shoes or sandals and lots of sunscreen - even though it was cloudy and I had slapped I still got a bit burnt. While we walked from Narrowneck to Milford you could just as easily do it in reverse and there is probably more parking at the Milford end. Or you could just do bits of it, although apparently the Narrowneck to Takapuna part is impassable too close to high tide.