Ambury Regional Park

Nestled on the shores of the Manukau Harbour, Ambury Regional Park is a working farm, an important education centre and a bird watchers paradise. Located only 15 km from the hustle and bustle of downtown Auckland visitors will feel like they have been swept away to rural New Zealand as they wander through open pasture, past the large variety of farm animals and down to the foreshore where over 80 different species of birds make their home.
Visitors to the park are offered are wide range of activities from walking and cycling, BBQ's and picnic spots to opportunities to interact directly with the farm animals (there is public lamb feeding and cow milking between July and November) and participating in community workshops.
To the east of Ambury is Mangere Mountain, its volcanic past evident in the rich soils and lava flows scattered across area. A fortified Maori pa on the maunga (mountain) gave an ideal defensive vantage point while the fertile soil combined with the easy access to the coast for gathering kaimoana (seafood) and launching waka (canoes) made the area an important site for food production and gathering for a number of iwi including Wai-o-Hua and Ngati Whatua, who lived in and around the pa. Stone mounds located around the park and the nearby Otuataua Stonefields are some of the best evidence of Maori gardens left on public land in Auckland.
Mangere continued to play an important role in food provision well into the modern day; the dry-stone walls surrounding Ambury Regional Park are a testament to the early farmers who settled here from Cornwell and Scotland while the name of the park itself is taken from the Ambury Milk Company that provided the town milk supply from 1893 to 1965. You can also see the remains of a windmill and wells that were part of the Ambury Milk Company.