On Friday 27 May 2016, a group consisting of 7 students and myself went to Ambury Farm in Mangere, Auckland. We left Auckland Institute of Studies at 2.30pm and arrived at Ambury at 2.45pm.
Ambury Farm – $45 per person, half day tour.
For info and bookings call: (64) 27 223 6655 email: [email protected] or book online:
Destination: Ambury Farm
Ambury Farm (aka Ambury Regional Park) used to be an active farm which provided milk and meat for the population of Auckland. As the city grew, the farm could no longer produce sufficient quantity for the population so it became a Regional Park, but is still a working farm.
Our first stop was at a large field where there were about 300 sheep who were all pregnant. Some had blue paint spots on them which indicated that they were carrying 1 lamb, while the others without any paint spots were carrying twins or triplets. These lambs are due to be born in late July, so the farm will be full of lambs in August and September – a wonderful time to visit.
Our next stop was in another large field and this contained the 2 horses, some sheep and some young cows. The horses were mostly concerned with eating grass today and initially ignored us, but as we walked away from them, they followed us. It seemed that if we ignored them, they became more interested in us.
We wandered over to the cows and they were friendly. These cows were born in June / July last year so they are less than a year old and are quite used to people.
We then went to a smaller area which is where the poultry lives. There are many hens, roosters and chickens as well as some female turkeys.
At feeding time, the bird population is boosted by ducks and seagulls who fly in for a free feed. At this time of the year there are also large flocks of migratory birds gathering at Ambury and surrounding areas, getting ready for their migration north for winter. Some of these, the godwits, spend their time in Alaska and Russia before returning in spring. While we were in the poultry area, a huge group of these birds flew over us – a spectacular sight.
We finally visited the angora goats who are extremely friendly. They made a fuss of us for a while before deciding that they wanted to reach some tasty leaves from a small tree. To do this they stood on their hind legs so they could reach the leaves. Some of the group helped them by picking leaves and hand-feeding the goats.
We then went to the picture frame, an ideal place for final photos, before finishing our day in a large field which had some sheep. This field stretched down to the Manukau Harbour so we sat down on a large log, enjoying the view and watched the sun set in the west. We returned to Auckland Institute of Studies around 6.15pm.
