Access

The Access to Hawkins Hill wind turbine is on Ashton Fitchett Drive in Kowhai Park. From the city, follow Victoria Street, Brooklyn Road, Todman Street and Karepa Street.

From the parking area at the wind turbine, follow the sealed access road past the Airways VHS TX site and castle-like building (45 minutes). The track starts through the gate on the left.

Geology

Red Rocks are purple-coloured remnants of undersea volcanic eruptions which took place around 200 million years ago. When basaltic lava bubbles made contact with cold water, the outer skin of molten magma cooled, whilst the enclosed molten rock continued to flow under pressure. It penetrated a weakness in its encasing shell of rock and exploded like a water-filled balloon, forming a pillow shape. Red Rocks are stained red due to the presence of iron oxide and contrast with the pistachio green rocks tainted by chlorite.

After the second junction with the Tip Track, the coastal views open up, with the 4WD track at the base of the cliffs running like a thread between the rugged rock faces and the frothing water. Red Rocks are immediately apparent.

Te Kopahou Reserve lies to the south-west of the city. It’s deeply dissected bulbous form is topped by Hawkins Hill (495 metres) and its substantial height is used by Meridian Energy for a wind turbine and Airways for an aircraft navigation station.

The rounded caps of the ridges drop sharply to deeply gouged valleys, with the main spurs truncated to triangular bluffs. The Wellington Fault runs through the reserve forming Long Gully, to the west of the main ridge. The reserve ends abruptly at the sea, with vertical cliffs tumbling to the numerous offshore reefs and rocks. These astoundingly sheer cliffs fall over 200 metres in a horizontal distance of only 300 metres. The Coastal Tracks to Red Rocks and Sinclair Head explores this rugged stretch of coast.

Flora

The location is unusual for its collection of flora. 159 indigenous species have been recorded on the hills with a high proportion classified as threatened.

The coastal zone exhibits flora that has evolved to suit Cook Straight’s unique conditions, with a mixture of coastal scrub, flax, tussock and scree. Deforestation has destabilised the slopes and frequent slumping occurs. Tauhinu, speargrass, coprosma propinqua and large leaf pohuehue colonise the scree. Unusually, the coastal cliff plant and invertebrate communities show similarities with South Island sub-alpine communities.

The main hill slopes were previously covered in tawa forest with large rimu and rata. On the slopes with higher exposure to salt laden gales, a smooth, wind resistant canopy of kohekohe, with a karaka, ngaio and titoki understorey would have prevailed.

Today, the main coloniser of the bare ground is the shrub tauhinu, which is not palatable to farm stock and is spray resistant. The associated gorse is a nitrogen fixer and helps establish better soils, although it takes longer for the native bush to overtop than bracken or tauhinu. Later an embryonic forest of manuka, kanuka, mahoe, five finger, coprosmas, hebe and broadleaf scrub will emerge.

On the windy tops, swards of native grasses, speargrass and silver tussock provide habitat for the rare flightless speargrass weevil, the common gecko and common skink. However since the introduction of goats in the early 1980s, the speargrass has been devoured by the voracious eaters with a commensurate decline in habitat for the invertebrate populations.