Middle Earth Tour Day 26: Discovering Fortress Devonport

Middle Earth Tour Day 26: Discovering Fortress Devonport

I was going to leave the hostel early this morning as I wanted to visit Devonport and look for the fortifications I knew that was in the area. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a cold day as it was cloudy and I did see people. The hostel had woken up pretty early as I could hear life outside the doors to my room as I could hear the doors slamming. It had woken me up, but I was ready to get moving. My thoughts were to head to maccas for breaky until I had a quick look inside a shop that was jst several metres from where I am staying. I had something called hashed brisket and I don’t think I want to eat that again as it was dripping in oil that could have sent me to the moon with enough to return home.

I found something on my way to the ferry building down at the wharf in Auckland. It was a heritage trail to do with the centenary of WW1. Auckland actually had a trail that you could follow that provided you with information on various areas like nearby there was a recruiting office so I might have to quickly visit a library for that, but that is if I have time. There was information down at Britomart about the beginning of the conflict and then looked at what was happening in New Zealand at the same time including Auckland’s role from the beginning. I did find it interesting they included children as well. I did get to the wharf and onto the ferry within minutes. I think it was good that the rush of life was getting off and very few were getting on for the trip to Devonport. The trip over was not that long and I was looking at the ships on the way over though I was waiting to be told to get off until I realised we had actually docked. I was actually one of the last people off, but there was still a big crowd waiting to get on. The sea of humanity was scary heading into the city and makes you wonder just how many end up there for the day.

Once off the ferry I headed towards the naval base to see what was going on over there and got close enough to lose interest as there had been a few displays along the way last time I had been there that they were not there anymore. My guide book said the navy museum was at the naval base, but something I had read said it was at the bottom of North Head at Torpedo Bay. I then decided that I had to head towards Mount Victoria as I had seen fortifications and mushrooms on the website. I could have sworn they were singing mushrooms, but I could have read that wrong on the website. I had not seen a sign for heading up the hill, but I was following what I thought was the road that would take me there since I could see it. Along the way I had seen a scooter hire place and I could have hired one big yellow on for around 2 hours, but looking at how fast it could go and I say to myself no bloody friggin way as I didn’t want to b caught dead on the yellow monstrosity. The entrance was actually easy to find as there was a closed art museum and a kindy on the side of the hill. Part way up there was a house that I was wondering what it was all about. Turns out the hose had been dedicated to Michael King a historian and writer who had died in a car accident. I have actually read a book by him. It was a place to help aspiring writers so that meant anyone wanting a private tour of the house couldn’t do so. Once I got up to the top there was what I think was a weather station type thing, the soundless mushrooms that are pretty cool and there was the disappearing gun that was part of an installation that had been built during the Russian scare in the late 1800s.

I was actually hearing birds that sounded like they were making text message sounds. The trails down the hill were taking me around the hill to where I had first started. I did think I could go straight down, but wasn’t sure if that was a good idea as I didn’t know if I would get stuck at the back of a house. Several buildings that caught my attention were the spires of a local church that I wanted to visit or see the outside of. Once I was at the beginning of my walk I went to the right to follow the road around to where the two buildings were. I soon found out I had found St Pauls of Devonport and St. Francis de sales catholic church too.  What had gotten my attention was the cemetery as I came around the corner. The cemetery at the side of a busy road was the Western section of the now closed Mt Victoria cemetery and it did go right up into the hill as well. I needed to cross the road to the shop as it was a warm day and I needed another bottle of water. Outside the shop a lady asked if I was local and I said no I am not, but what are you looking for. She said she was after a certain church and I told her that one of the two across the road were the ones she was after. On the other side of the Catholic Church was the other part of the cemetery that I had passed. Though there are not that many graves left one was prominent to the area as a peace maker and he was Eruera Maihi Patuone. I have no idea who he is.

Around the corner was the Mt Cambria Reserve that has a museum connected to it. I was partially interested in the museum as I could have a look inside, but didn’t have the time. I was wondering what was in the park so went for a wander. I seen a lady looking in the bushed for something though I was guessing it was her dog and all of a sudden I got barrelled into by a dog from behind. I couldn’t hear any growling, but it was a Golden Retriever and it was coming in for another go. I felt it try to bite me unless it was a playful nip, but I had my hands out telling it to calm down until its owner called it. I was ready to take the dog on especially since I wear boots. The nip did leave a mark on my leg, but never broke the skin. The lady did seem to vanish really quickly with her dog like it was something that happened all the time. Further on I met a very friendly pug dog that wanted to follow me though I told it to go back to its owner. It is strange to get two extremes in dogs. I did find the museum though it was actually 10 mins before it was going to close and it did look like it was an old church building. I went wandering again only to find a beach that was called Cheltenham Beach that was walking distance to North Head, but I was wanting to walk further on to the next headland as I wanted to find a fort I thought I had seen that was at Narrow Neck Beach. The walk up the hill showed me that I was in a defence restricted area as I couldn’t enter any of the buildings or else I would be in trouble.

Walking past the defence buildings I did see a few people jogging around especially with navy shirts. Passing the defence buildings things did clear as a sign to Fort Takapuna Historic Reserve and I was wondering what that actually was. Turns out it seems to be what I was actually looking for as the fort was a pre Victorian era building sunken into the ground and part of the complex that had been built up during the Russian scare campaign. The same reserve area was used for gun placements in World War One and again in World War 2. I found it interesting that there was all this history in the area and not many people would know that the original guns in the placement were from HMS New Zealand and when they had been decommissioned two are at the front of the Auckland war memorial museum. I am not sure if those are the actual guns from the New Zealand or whole new guns though it will be easy to find out when the museum is visited.  The other buildings include a mess hall that can be hired out and surveillance buildings for ships and aircraft. I did learn the reserve had been transferred from the Department of Defence to the Department of conservation in 2000. I thought this was really good. There are plenty of tunnels in the area too and I would guess they will take me somewhere if we were allowed in them. The beach below the park was Narrow Neck Beach and was where I decided that it was best to stop for lunch. I had satisfied my curiosity for finding the fort unless there was another one up the hill past Narrow Neck.

After lunch I started to go up the road past Narrow Neck Beach thinking I could find the other reserve that could be up there, but half way round I decided that it would be best to head to North Head where I can learn all about the defences in the area. It was funny as the day was all about finding the different defences in the local area. I was able to fill my water bottles at Narrow Neck Beach and this was needed or else I would have likely fallen over from the heat. I walked towards North Head via the beach and after several minutes rest I was up the hill looking at the different placements. I found a map that told me this area has always been popular with all the locals who had climbed the hills exploring. There were also several different walks available that could take you through to many of the different remains of the fortifications. I began with the disappearing gun in front of me and the magazine storage. Seems you are allowed to walk through some of the bunker like buildings. Some of them do provide you with information about them especially the North Battery area that I had walked through. I found it all interesting especially when you found remains of the rails that took some of the guns up the hill. A video in the surveillance room gave the story about North Head and the islands being made pest free so native animals could thrive. I never knew a Japanese plane had flown over Auckland during WWII. There was more to the story than the big anti ship guns as there were other back ups in the area from engine rooms that powered the spotlights to the booms like in Sydney harbour that had been placed near Torpedo Bay. Not only were there the 6 inch batteries, but the beaches were protected by smaller guns like the Cheltenham Beach Battery that were quick firing 6 pounders. I ended p after following the trail around the base of North Head in a tunnel that lead me to another view port and then up near the south Battery. I had been worried about where it would lead me as I had no idea about the other end of the tunnel. I never knew who else would be in there in the dark, but I was alright. I ended up at the main entrance to the complex and was happy to have walked around nearly the whole area for the last couple of hours.

I was wanting to return to the hostel as it was getting late, but I wanted to have a look at Torpedo Bay. I soon found this was now where the Navy museum was located as last time I had been there is had been over by the naval complex. I had not done this much searching while I was in Devonport the last time was happy with the amount I had ended up finding and I now knew what the area would have been like with the defence systems. It seems that the location of the navy museum is also the approximate area in 1827 that a boat from the French corvette L’Astrolabe under the command of Dumont D’urville landed. I am not sure how important this is though, but I wandered to the wharf that was nearby to see what it was all about. There wasn’t anything really telling me about it all. There was actually other stuff in the area that had some interest. I had found the WW1 trail again and this time the houses above Torpedo bay were convalescence houses for soldiers and then there was the sea baths that filled up when the tide came in. They were still viewable and I thought it was pretty cool with that sort of find. I made my way back to the ferry building, where I had dinner at a hotel with a clear cut floor where you could see wine bottles and corks on the ground though I think this was all for show. I needed the rest and the meal was excellent. Once that was finished I went to the ferry where the human tide had reversed itself and going back the way it had come meaning I had a near empty ferry to catch, but there was a crowd in the city side of the ferry waiting to get on.