Mt Herbert via Diamond Harbour
Activity Date:
Updated:
People:
Finn,
Jen,
Emily H
| Sat Dec 12, 2020 [Show, Download GPX] Mt Herbert | 16.39km 5:36:18 | 2.92km/hr 999m ⬆️, 952m ⬇️ |
After a lovely brunch at Corsiar Bay for Em’s birthday we headed to the Lyttelton Ferry Terminal to catch the ferry across to Diamond Harbour. Right at the beachfront where the ferry lands a track begins - this track will take you all the way to the summit of Mt Herbert / Te Ahu Patiki (919m). This is the highest point on the Banks Peninsula and it gives some pretty epic views of the habour and up the coast all the way to Kaikoura if the seeing is good!
It’s about 8km each way with a good deal of elevation (about 1000m) once you add in some undulation in a couple of sections. Phew. There is only a little bit of tree cover near the ocean and you soon lose it to open farmland. Being summer it was blisteringly hot and that added a bit of an extra challenge to those of us who weren’t feeling at fit as we could have been!
The track is well formed the whole way - mostly being 4WD farm track. Be ware of the cows and other stock! It does, however, climb steeply in a number of sections, but does always ease off again for a time.
It’s well worth it as a trip, and it’s even better if you can walk through to Port Levvy Saddle or Gebbies Pass, but those trips require someone to very nicely shuttle your car around.
