Deans Bush - Putarikamotu

This is a gentle and unusual walk for an urban area, around part of a 30 acre reserve which includes 15 acres of native forest. It takes about 40 minutes return from the carpark off Kahu Road.

Firstly, from Riccarton House (built between 1856 and 1900 for the Deans’ family) walk to Deans Cottage, then enter the gate behind to consider what Canterbury was like before the arrival of pakeha. Ironically this stand of bush was conserved by the successful farming family, the Deans.

This remnant of native forest in the middle of an urban environment is of national significance. It represents a continually changing mosaic of coastal floodplain forests that responded to the cycle of flooding in the Waimakariri River for 300,000 years. The stately 600-year-old kahikatea trees still growing in the forest are the last survivors of this cycle. They have lived through the widespread fires of two cultural periods – Maori, then European – and the associated replacing of native vegetation by pastoral and crop plants. Well-formed paths take the visitor on several walks in the bush, where information panels tell the story of the kahikatea and the significance of the forest resources to Maori and early settlers.

The restored early settlers’ cottage, built by the Deans brothers in 1844, is the oldest surviving building in Canterbury. From here a circular track takes you through Riccarton Bush, the only remaining area of podocarp (kahikatea) forest in Christchurch. The ecology has recovered from surrounding urbanisation which dried the bush out. It is now irrigated and has been encircled by a predator proof fence. Some information panels are present describing native plants and birds in the bush which used to cover the entire plains.

The Deans family also settled a large station at Hororata and built a homestead out there which has it's own fascinating history.