Scenic Drive from the Arataki Visitor Centre

Scenic Drive is a road that runs through the bush-clad

Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. The area, traditionally kno ...

from

Titirangi Titirangi is a suburb of West Auckland in the Waitākere Ranges local board area of the city of Auckland in northern New Zealand. It is an affluent, residential suburb located 13 kilometres (8 miles) to the southwest of the Auckland city centre ...

to Swanson on the western outskirts of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It is part of Auckland urban route 24. As the name indicates, it is famous for the sweeping views over the western parts of the Auckland Region. The road passes through the village of Waiatarua, but most of it is through native bush (forest), in Centennial Memorial Park or the neighbouring water catchment area. It connects with West Coast Road, Shaw Road, Konini Road and Piha Road to the surf beaches at Karekare and

Piha Piha is a coastal settlement in West Auckland, on the western coast of the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is one of the most popular beaches in the area and a major day-trip destination for Aucklanders throughout the year, and especially ...

. It is paralleled by the disused Exhibition Drive, now used by pedestrians & cyclists. The Arataki Visitor Centre provides displays of the local flora, fauna and geology and well-maintained walking tracks. Along the parts of the road that pass through private land are a native-plant seller, several potters and a disused winery. Large parts of the Waitākere Ranges are now closed to the public for hiking and walking to help stop the spread of the incurable Kauri dieback disease.

Geography

The drive begins in the suburb of

, at the foothills of the

. It follows a path west, then north-west, to the township of Waiatarua, located near Ruaotuwhenua and other high points of the eastern

. At Waiatarua, Piha Road splits from Scenic Drive, allowing access to

and Karekare beaches and their coastal communities. The road continues north-west, forming much of the border between

Henderson Valley Henderson Valley is a locality in West Auckland, New Zealand. The major road in the locality is Henderson Valley Road, and Scenic Drive is on the western boundary. History The Henderson Valley is in the traditional rohe of Te Kawerau ā Maki ...

farmland and the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park. After passing the Pukematekeo Lookout, Scenic Drive descends from the ranges, ending at the suburb of Swanson. The Scenic Drive ridge are the remnants of the eastern sides of a

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

era Waitākere Volcano, which was uplifted from the seafloor between 3 and 5 million years ago.

History

The road was first constructed in the 1910s, and opened in January 1914 as Exhibition Drive, coinciding with the 1913-14 Auckland Exhibition. Work on the road led to the development of

as a village, because of the need for lodgings for the labourers who worked on the road. The road was later known as the Waitākere Scenic Drive, then later by the name Scenic Drive. Exhibition Drive was re-developed as Scenic Drive during the 1930s depression as a Schedule 5 project to provide work for the unemployed. It was intended to be a tourist route and assist with maintenance of the dams in the water catchment area. Subsequent urban sprawl has meant those small parts of the route not protected as reserve or for water catchment have prestige housing at the southern end, and life style blocks at the north. During construction of the south-east portion of the Scenic Drive in the early 1930s, several quarries were opened up to supply coarse fill material. Two of these quarries were in Shaw Road and Carter Road, on either side of a narrow ridge that runs north from the Scenic Drive. During blasting operations, fossils were discovered in the Shaw Road quarry. The road is also known as the place where

Grace Millane Grace Emmie Rose Millane (2 December 1996 – 2 December 2018) was a British tourist whose disappearance in Auckland, New Zealand, in December 2018 sparked international attention. A 26-year-old man, Jesse Shane Kempson was charged with her mur ...

's body was found after she had been murdered in 2018. The Piha Road and Scenic Drive intersection is also the last known location of French teenager Eloi Rolland, who went missing from the area on 7 March 2020.

References

External links

Arataki Visitor Centre
{{Coord, 36, 56, 42.51, S, 174, 36, 1.6, E, display=title Tourist attractions in Auckland Roads in New Zealand Streets in Auckland Waitākere Ranges Local Board Area Scenic routes in New Zealand Waitākere Ranges West Auckland, New Zealand