Summit Road

Cashmere-Summit Road-Sumner - about 3 hours by car.

On a clear day this drive is a superb introduction to Christchurch and its environs.

You see the city spread out on the plains, the mountains in the distance, the wide sweep of Pegasus Bay and the Pacific Ocean, the Estuary and Lyttelton Harbour.

The scenery is magnificent and, as a bonus, you pass significant sites in the history of Christchurch. Starting at the end of Colombo Street, you drive up Dyers Pass Road to the Summit Road on the Port Hills.

Turn left onto the Summit Road and follow it until you come to Evans Pass Road. Turn left and descend the hill into Sumner. From there follow the signs to the city centre.

Places of interest en Route:

• Sign of the Takahe (Dyers Pass Rd) - the more imposing of two roadhouses built for travellers using the Summit Road. A Gothic style stone building with an interesting interior, it is now a restaurant.

• Sign of the Kiwi (at the Summit Road Junction) - another roadhouse, much less elaborate. You can buy refreshments here and the carpark opposite is a good place to stop for a view over the plains to the mountains.

• Bridle Path and Memorial (Summit Road) - excellent view over Lyttelton and harbour. Early European settlers used the Bridle Path to climb the hill from the port with all their possessions, then descended to the swampy plain to carve out a new life.

• Christchurch Gondola - from the Bridle Path carpark you can walk up to the Gondola. The track is quite narrow and uneven and can be muddy, but the view from the Gondola building is stunning. • Sumner Beach - Cave Rock (Tuawera) was an ancient burial site for the Waitaha. The mast on top of the rock was once used to signal whether conditions allowed ships to cross the Bar into the Estuary.

• Moa Bone Point Cave (just past the Redcliffs School on the left). The early Waitaha people occupied the cave some 600 years ago. They hunted moa and caught fish in the Estuary and Pegasus Bay

• Avon-Heathcote Estuary Home to many wading birds. Look out for royal spoonbills, pied stilts, shags and the godwits which gather here before flying to Siberia.

Image Credit: Anon Mouse