Scenic Drive, Auckland facts for kids
Scenic Drive is a special road in Auckland, New Zealand. It goes through the beautiful, bush-covered Waitākere Ranges. This road stretches from Titirangi all the way to Swanson, which are both on the western side of Auckland. It's also known as Auckland urban route 24.
As its name suggests, Scenic Drive is famous for its amazing views. You can see wide, sweeping landscapes over the western parts of the Auckland Region. It's a great place to enjoy nature and see the city from above.
The road passes through a small village called Waiatarua. But for most of its length, it goes through native New Zealand forest. This forest is part of Centennial Memorial Park or the nearby water catchment area. Scenic Drive also connects to other roads like West Coast Road, Shaw Road, Konini Road, and Piha Road. These roads lead to popular surf beaches like Karekare and Piha. There's also an old road called Exhibition Drive that runs next to Scenic Drive. It's not used by cars anymore, but it's a popular spot for mountain biking.
Along Scenic Drive, you can find the Arataki Visitor Centre. This center has cool displays about the local plants, animals, and rocks. It also has well-kept walking tracks you can explore. In parts of the road that are not protected parkland, you might find places selling native plants or local pottery. There's even an old winery that isn't used anymore.
It's important to know that many parts of the Waitākere Ranges are currently closed to walkers and hikers. This is to help stop the spread of a serious disease called Kauri dieback. This disease harms Kauri trees, which are very important native trees in New Zealand, and there is no cure for it yet.
Why Was Scenic Drive Built?
Scenic Drive was built a long time ago, in the 1930s. This was during a time called the Great Depression, when many people did not have jobs. The road project was created to give work to people who were unemployed.
The main idea behind building Scenic Drive was to create a route for tourists to enjoy the scenery. It also helped with looking after the dams in the water catchment area, which supply water to Auckland. Over time, more houses have been built around Auckland. This means that some parts of Scenic Drive that are not protected land now have fancy houses at the southern end and larger lifestyle blocks at the northern end.
Discovering Fossils During Construction
When the south-east part of Scenic Drive was being built in the early 1930s, workers opened up several quarries. Quarries are places where rocks are dug out of the ground. These rocks were used to fill in parts of the road. Two of these quarries were on Shaw Road and Carter Road.
During the blasting work at the Shaw Road quarry, something amazing was found: fossils! Fossils are the remains or traces of ancient plants and animals preserved in rock. Finding them helped people learn more about what the area was like millions of years ago.
Images for kids
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A view of Scenic Drive in Titirangi
