We’ve been admiring the bay from the Hobsonville ferry for the last couple of years as we have passed. Finially we got around to visiting this North Shore gem on the inner harbour.

The track to the bay starts at the end of Balmain Road, Birkenhead. A handy dog library too!

The track is pretty good, with crushed concrete and rubble being the main material. A bit rough in jandals. After a few minutes a side track branches off to the right – it goes down to the edge of the mangroves at Soldiers Bay and a small high tide beach.

After a short climb up we arrive at an open viewpoint – to the left there is a steep concrete path down to the beach itself.

There used to be a derelict tug on a mooring just off Fitzpatrick Bay –

The derelict 61 year old tug “York Syme”, as seen from the Hobsonville ferry – Built in 1961 by Adelaide Ship Construction to a Burness & Collett hydroconic hull design (which is a series of hard chines rather than a smooth curve).
Caught fire 6 Feb 2020 while moored in Soldiers Bay. In previous incidents it had run aground in the Weiti River in 2017 and earlier in the Huaraki gulf while towing a barge in 1997.
The tug was scrapped by the harbourmaster sometime in 2022-2023