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Amber Allott08:49, May 26 2021
ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF
The Press has helped raise the funds to buy two of Christchurch’s highest peaks for a public conservation park. (First published May 26, 2021)
Stuff has teamed up with a charitable trust to help buy a 500-hectare block of gorse-speckled hillside and help it return to its former, forested glory. After a surprise offer from a local farmer, the Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust launched its Te Ahu Pātiki project to bring a swathe of Lyttelton-facing land – between Mt Herbert and Mt Bradley – into public ownership. The aim is to make sure people have access to a sprawling network of popular walking tracks in years to come, and turn the whole block into a giant conservation park.
Rod Donald Trust/Supplied
Help conserve this. The Rod Donald Trust is fundraising to buy the iconic peaks of Mt Herbert/Te Ahu Pātiki and Mt Bradley on the southern slopes of Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō to create Te Ahu Pātiki park.
The Rod Donald Trust is in the fundraising home straight to create a significant new park above Orton Bradley on the southern slopes of Lyttelton Harbour. MAUREEN MCCLOY outlines the vision. Te Ahu Pātiki park will be a stunning new asset for Christchurch once it has been established by the Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust and its partners, Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke and Orton Bradley Park.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF
The Rod Donald Trust is working to purchase 500 hectares of Banks Peninsula farmland to turn into a conservation park.
Are you back at work but still hankering for the hills? The remaining long days of summer are ideal for short escapes to explore the many walking opportunities on the Banks Peninsula. A little-known organisation, the Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust, has been beavering away since 2010 to create more walking opportunities in tandem with biodiversity protection on this wonderful and diverse former volcanic island that abuts Christchurch. The site lists over 100 walks on the Peninsula and can be searched by difficulty level, area, track length.