Ambury Regional Park

The natural portrait of Ambury

Sunset from our campsite

Ambury Regional Park is a local park run by the county of Auckland. It is a farm park that lies among the southern suburbs by Manukau Harbour. It is a significant habitat for shore birds. It is also a fully functional working farm where people are invited to wander freely among the animals; provided they close gates behind them and stay out of the bull pen, that is!

From the park, you can see nearby Māngere Mountain, which was once an active volcano approximately 18,000 years ago. The area was then used by the Maori for gardening since the ash from the volcano made the area quite fertile. It is possible to see stone mounds at Ambury that mark pre-European gardening sites. In the mid 1800s farmers from Cornwall and Scotland arrived, turning the area into a commercial dairy farm under the title of the Ambury Milk Company. They stopped commercial milk production in the 1960s but the area remains an active farm where increasingly urbanised kids can learn about farming and where their food comes from.

Little lambs

Petting the lambs

There are a number of walking trails from the farm, including the Family Farm walk (1km, about 45 minutes), the Lost Garden's walk (1km, about 30 minutes), and the Foreshore walk (2km, about 45 minutes). While we were there, Andrew and I did both the farm walk and the Foreshore walk. The farm walk was great for seeing all of the animals. With it being spring, there were so many little lambs, calves, and chicks around that were so cute to see. The farmer was working on herding the lambs into pens to give them vaccinations so we also got to see the herd dogs at work; all of the sheep were quite loud! The Foreshore walk was also quite nice. It was an easy track, although it was windy enough that I almost felt like I would fly away if I lifted my arms! We went at low tide and it was really neat seeing the basalt lava flows that have slowly been smoothed and worn down by the water over the years. There was also a collapsed lava tunnel that was fun to see. The signs on the track were informational and there were still quite a few animals to see.

The campground was quite nice and inexpensive. There were no marked camping sites, so it was just park in the field where you want. It wasn't very busy, so we got our choice of spots. We chose one with good views of the ocean, sheltered by the trees, and close to the sheep. There was a sink for washing dishes, pit toilets, and drinking water. Basic facilities, but not much more is really necessary. We discovered on the second day that there are actually showers up by the milking shed, but when we went to look I think I'd prefer to just wait until we get somewhere with better showers. There is also a carpark available for freedom camping.

A very aggressive turkey

The cow had an itchy neck