Smiths Bush — Attraction in Kaipātiki

Smiths Bush is one of the six ancient forests to explore in Auckland. The Auckland urban area was once covered in lush, tall forest. The legacy of this majestic world remains in only a few precious patches around Auckland, many of which are easily accessible and well worth a visit.

Kahikatea forests are found in locations with high water tables, such as wet depressions and flat terraces beside major watercourses. These same landforms are perfect for farming and building houses so kahikatea forests have been almost entirely cleared from urban Auckland.

One of the best examples left is is Smiths Bush, a green urban oasis of soaring trees and raucous tūī, right beside the northern motorway. Nestled within the kahikatea is a magnificent stand of pūriri.

The forest is almost rectangular in shape with very large, mature pūriri trees dominant in the centre. Large taraire, kowhai, titoki, karaka, tawa, matai, miro and tōtara are also present in the canopy.

Surrounding the pūriri-dominated forest is a dense stand of kahikatea . Smaller trees and shrubs growing beneath the canopy include mahoe, hangehange, kawakawa and several Coprosma species.

Pūriri is an essential tree to Māori, who use it for various purposes. The wood is durable and rugged, making it useful for carving, furniture,...

A nice walking track - all on a board walk platform, an oasis in the city, right next to busy SH1 motorway. This is a special type of bush with many different plant species not so common in other native bushes in Auckland. Strangely, there are no Kauri trees and historical attempts to plant Kauri have not been successful. Quite a lot of Kahikatea, Puriri and Cathedral Grove are present largely in this bush. In the winter or after a heavy rain spell you can see a tiny waterfall too. This native bush has been subjected to so much abuse by humans in its history and now in the process of recovering very slowly but steadily thanks to the efforts of the Auckland council with the help of the volunteers. Visitors are kindly reminded to confine their walk to the board walk only as walking on the soil will harm the young and upcoming little...

Smith's Bush is an absolute hidden gem, tucked in between the cricket 🏏club and motorway 🚕🚗

The well maintained, flat, raised, wooden platform keeps people off the tree roots 🌴 and enables people of all abilities 👩‍🦽 and people with pushchairs to easily enjoy this oasis, so close to the city 🙂

I thought the motorway noise would be distracting 😫 but the trees shelter the noise, and the low hum of traffic is actually soothing 😌 background noise to the beautiful birdsong 🐦

There are benches every few dozen meters. It's a very comfortable walk 🚶‍♀️ It would be nice if it were a loop track, but you have to...