Southern View: September 30, 2021

SOUTHERN VIEW Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday September 30 2021 7
Get to know peninsula on foot
• By Samantha Mythen
TWO-THIRDS OF tickets
available have sold for an annual
walking festival exploring Banks
Peninsula.
The Banks Peninsula Walking
Festival is run over four
weekends in November, offering
guided walks in a variety of
locations all around the Peninsula.
More than 50 per cent of
spaces for the festival sold
within the first four days of sales
when the tickets were released
earlier this year.
Festival
co-ordinator
Sue Church
said the aim is
to promote “a
greater understanding”
of
Sue Church
the area and “to
encourage good
health and
well-being.”
“All walks are guided by local
volunteers with a good knowledge
of the walk they intend
to lead and who are passionate
about the area,” she said.
Many of the walks are across
private land and covenanted
areas in remote parts of
the peninsula, otherwise
inaccessible.
“These are always popular
with festival-goers, with the
longer, harder tramps usually
the first ones to sell out,”
Church said.
“It’s a novelty for them to be
able to access somewhere they
usually can’t go.”
Walks include exploring the
Kaitorete Spit, Brice Falls, Camp
Bay, Hinewai Reserve, the Hikuraki
covenant and many more,
with hikes varying in difficulty,
length and duration.
The festival began as the
Lyttelton Walking Festival but
expanded in 2013 to include the
whole peninsula.
It is run by representatives
from the Rod Donald Banks
Peninsula Trust and Little
River/Wairewa Community
Trust, with partners from
Akaroa District Promotions,
Diamond Harbour Community
Association, Governors Bay
Community Association and
Project Lyttelton assisting with
promoting the event.
Church said they are
“extremely grateful” to the
volunteer guides who plan and
lead the walks, as well as “the
generous private landowners”
who allow the festival access to
their land.
The event will go ahead fully if
Canterbury is at alert level 1.
If the region remains in alert
WALKING
FESTIVAL:
Banks
Peninsula
Walking
Festival
co-ordinator
Sue Church
checking
out Akaroa’s
famous Rhino
Walk that is
a part of the
new Childrens
Bay Farm
Walkway. ​
level 2, several events will be
cancelled and masks will be
required for car pooling.
Church, of Robinsons Bay, has
been co-ordinating the event
since 2017.
“For me, one of the most
rewarding parts of this job is
all of the amazing people I have
got to meet along the way. It is
a great chance to showcase our
beautiful area.”
•There are still spaces
available on several great
walks. Tickets are available
through eventfinda.co.nz
– search Banks Peninsula
Walking Festival 2021.
Young explorers
invited to
honour Worsley
TWENTY-FIRST century
explorers will face their fears head
on in a challenging Antarcticafocused
weekend aiming to
highlight an unsung hero.
Canterbury-based school students
in years 7 to 9 can now apply
for the 2021 Young Inspiring
Explorers Worsley Weekend.
Run by Antarctic Heritage
Trust in partnership with William
Pike Challenge, the weekend celebrates
Antarctic explorer, Frank
Worsley.
Worsley was part of Sir Ernest
Shackleton’s Endurance expedition
and is known for navigating
the rescue party to safety after the
ship was crushed by ice floes.
Trust commercial and partnerships
general manager Marcus
Waters said not many people
know about Worsley.
Twenty students will spend the
weekend of November 20 and 21
in Akaroa and Wainui, learning
about Worsley and taking part in
a range of activities that will teach
them to overcome challenges,
including high ropes and rafting.
Applications close
on Tuesday, and those
interested can apply at
https://nzaht.org/inspiringexplorers-expedition-2020/
application/
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