100 DAYS OF SUMMER

 by Chrys Horn

100 Days of Summer is a little brochure that provides 100 great ideas for families interested in exploring Christchurch outdoors. 

Miria Goodwin and her twin sister Anneke Beardsley put the booklet together to help people enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of being outdoors.  Getting outdoors is great for children’s brain development, for social connection and for fostering a connection to nature. 

They aim to encourage people of all stripes to do more outside this summer and enjoy all the many beautiful places Canterbury has to offer.  The guide is also easy to read and carry, and provides a daily pointer that suits all ages.

 

Among the many suggestions are hugging a tītoki tree, looking for dolphins off Godley Head, searching for street art in the city, checking out the Sparks Road Wetlands or visiting the Prebbleton Nature Reserve, or watching model yachts at Halswell Domain.

You can pick up a copy of 100 Days of Summer at any Christchurch City Library or Council Service Centre.

If you are looking for things to do, you might also check out this post for some local ideas.

I wonder if we could come up with  50 free things you can do to explore Halswell?   All ideas gratefully received below in the comments!

Summer wanderings around Halswell

By Chrys Horn

Halswell is blessed by a great range of walks and some great green spaces where you can walk, bike or just hang out, catch up with friend or read a book.
This article highlights a few that might help you get out this summer  (and beyond).

Check out this little known gem in Sabys Rd.  It was the subject of a blog post in 2015 but still there, still the same and it is easy to get to by bike. 

You might also like to look at this Blog post to check out some other options that have already been discussed on this Blog

We have two newly developed wetland areas that are well worth a wander or a bikeride:  

One in Quaifes Road near to where Murphys Road meets it.  There are some lovely plantings in there and some good springs that feed into Knights Stream and eventually into the Hurutini/ Halswell River. This area connects nicely with the green space and water storage area near Longhurst which connects further to greenspace in Longhurst itself.  This means you can walk a good long way in pleasant surroundings and have a coffee in Longhurst to finish it off.  

The second is on the Corner of Hendersons and Sparks Roads.  It is easy to get to using the bike path from Te Hapua which takes you up the side of Sparks Road. 

Of course many will already know about the tracks around the Quarry and the lakes in that area.  It is a popular asset for Halswell and offers great walking, picnicking and coffee. 

If you are looking for something a little more challenging, walking up Kennedys Bush track to the Summit road and on to Kennedys Bush itself,  is a great thing to do and can fill up a good part of the day.  If you choose to take lunch, and there are great views from the top and you can wander all the way along the Summit Road.  
Tracks to the right take you to Ahuriri Bush, while tracks to the left can take you as far as Lyttelton or even Godley Heads, if you want a good day's walk and can organise transport back (buses are a good option from Lyttelton). For fit people or people on bikes who are going a bit faster it is quite possible to walk to Lyttelton and back in a longish day.  Biking also is a great thing to do via Kennedys Bush Track and you can go for miles once you are at the top.  The article above also makes some observations and suggestions re this route. 

There are some wonderful walks around Aidanfield and you can walk quite a way down the greenspace of the upper Heathcote starting in Wigram coming under the motorway into Aidanfield and following along the river.  Across Aidanfield Drive a track takes you along the river next to the School and onto the tracks in Canterbury Park and through to Curletts Road.  

Happy walking and biking!

The Happy Bicyclist and the Supermarket Problem

This post is in the spirit of always offering a Solution whenever there is a Complaint to be made. First, the Complaint. The Happy Bicyclist has been getting more and more irritated with the supermarket in Halswell - it's too hard to find stuff, the shop is full of strangers, and to get to the scanty, hidden - away bike rack requires navigating an enormous wilderness from roads infested with cars.

Today I tried a solution suggested by a friend. The first step was to turn Left at the front gate, instead of Right. Then through Oaklands and Westlake to Dunbars Road, over the bridge and onto the motorway cycle path. Turn off at the Aidanfield Drive overbridge onto Skyhawk Road's painted cycle lane for a couple of blocks. ..to The Landing in Wigram Skies. Straight up to the plentiful, modern bike racks, and in the door. The Happy Bicyclist still didn't know anyone, but at least the place felt smaller than a football field. And nice places next door for a coffee afterwards.

Going to a more distant supermarket requires more planning. Another Solution. A couple of weeks ago, J. attached her bike touring pannier bags for her bicycle visits to Healthy Harvest, and today I figured out that I could do the same for supermarket trips. Not exactly the boot of an SUV, but certainly enough to feel virtuous.

So, how often will we apply these Solutions? Probably not every time, but enough to ease the frustration that goes with powerlessness. And if we want to get really serious, we can always go see Steve Muir about a bike trailer.

Transport around Halswell - what to do?

Halswell has a range of transport issues. 

• As anyone around Halswell will know, congestion on Halswell Road is an issue during rush hour.  
• For local schools and for families wanting to get children to and from school safely, the 60km/hr speed limits and lack of adequate crossing points are an issue. 
• Parents who feel compelled to drop their kids off and pick them up from school to keep them safe, have themselves created a major traffic hazard around schools.
• Cyclists have to contend with fast traffic and increasingly angry motorists who don't have any idea how it feels to be on a bike. 
• Pedestrians often have to wait a considerable time before they are able to cross the road safely in places around Halswell.  If you are struggling with mobility issues because of injuries or illness, the problem is even worse.
• For people living down Halswell, and Junction Roads, traffic noise and traffic related pollution is making our place increasingly unpleasant.
• People trying to turn right out of Nichols Road or School Road onto Halswell Road are finding it increasingly difficult to get across even when traffic is not heavy.

Add to this the large developments such as Longhurst and Knights Stream and the continuing development of Aidanfield, and the new Meadowlands development, it is clear that things are set only to get worse for Halswell residents in the near future. 

While each of these have pretty good walking and cycling facilities within each development, as has been the case for areas such as Country Palms, Aidanfield and Halswell on the Park,  there are problems for anyone trying to get between these developments and major community facilities such as schools, shops, sports grounds etc.  

Things that would assist these problems are: 

• Off road cycle paths, which get a few people out of their cars and onto their bikes (even a few more people biking can make a significant difference to traffic congestion for those who choose to stay in their cars).  Cycling is currently the fastest, most efficient way to get from home to town, and many people do enjoy cycling but not when they feel unsafe as a result of the large volumes of car traffic, and a lack of cycle facilities.
• Bus lanes which make it quicker and more pleasant for people who choose to catch a bus rather than take their car.  (Again, even a few more people catching a bus can make a difference to traffic congestion).  However because buses get stuck in traffic, taking the bus is not a great option for people.
• Traffic lights, 
• Pedestrian refuges and safe routes to school
• Lower speed limits in some areas

The space taken up on our roads by the same number of cars buses bikes and pairs of feet

Sadly at this point, and despite the development here, there are no plans for any of these things in the Lincoln/Halswell Road area in the foreseeable future.  The off road cycle path that is planned as part of the new Christchurch cycle network, is planned to go up Sparks Rd.  The new cycle path along the southern motorway is not that useful for anyone living in Halswell wanting to get to work.  It would be good for those moving into the Knights stream area if Junction Road were not so unsafe for cyclists.  If we want to see good transport infrastructure around this area, we need to be taking some action and we need to do it soon.

If you have concerns about these things, a good thing to do is to write to the Riccarton-Wigram Community Board and the Christchurch City Council. Alternatively you could ring them.  Encourage your friends to do the same!  You could also get in contact with the Halswell Residents Association, who have asked the Council to do a transport plan for the area to manage the issues that we are already facing.

Without this kind of action, very little is likely to happen to sort out our suburb's transport issues.

Walking and biking tracks around Halswell

Underpass from Aidanfield through to the cycleway

Halswell is a great place for walking and biking, and has some interesting places to explore.  This short article points you to some good places to go walking or biking away from the roads. You might also enjoy exploring some of the places in Halswell away from where you live - Aidanfield, Halswell on the park and Country Palms offer some nice walking and parks.  

Southern Motorway cycleway

From Aidanfield you can access the new cycleway along the motorway which is also a good place to walk.  You can see some pics and find out a wee bit more about this cycleway here,  and you may also be interested in seeing the route of the cycleway through to Barrington 

Local parks                                                                                                    

Part of Halswell Quarry Rim Track

Check out the local parks page on our Website  to find out a little more about great places to walk.  Westlake park, Canterbury Park, the Halswell Domain and Halswell Quarry Park all provide great places to go for short walks away from the road. 

Kennedys Bush Track

The Kennedys Bush Track runs from the top of Kennedy’s Bush Road.  It is around about an hour to an hour and a half’s walk for most from there to the Summit Road which offers great views and tracks to take you along to the Sign of the Bellbird which is about 20 mins to half an hour along on the tracks across the road and to your right.   

View of Lyttelton Harbour from Sign of the Bellbird

While you are heading that way, you may like to continue on and do a bit of Aoraki spotting as per this blog post written in the Halswell Community Blog in 2012 

  

Turn left instead of right and you can walk to the Sign of the Kiwi and beyond.  A favourite walk for me is to walk all the way along the summit Road to Lyttelton via the Bridle Path.  The earthquakes have made this more interesting but you can also choose to drop down Bowenvale, or Rapaki and catch a bus to get you back to Halswell if you don't like walking on closed roads.

Little River Rail Trail

Of course another great, relatively close trail is the Little River Rail Trail, which can be walked or biked.  

You can bike from Halswell, to Lincoln:  A good route is to use Quaifes, Longstaffs and trices roads to get you to the trail on Birches Rd in Prebbleton.  

From Lincoln you need to take to the roads for a while but after a few km the trail is once again off road (look at the rail trail website to see the route between Lincoln and Motukarara).  

Many people drive to Motukarara to do the section between there and Little River.  The trail here is a great way to see Te Waihora/ Lake Ellesmere, and the cafes both at Motukarara and Little River are very very good, particularly after a good bikeride.  Check out the Little River Rail Trail website for more info.

For those who would prefer to walk or run, these trails can also be used for these activities.