Te Ara Otakaro Avon River Trail, part of Christchurch’s recovery

It is 10 years since the Christchurch earthquake that devastated
the city centre and cost 185 lives

12.51pm,  22nd February 2021, in remembrance

At 4.35am on 4th September 2010 a magnitude 7.1 earthquake was recorded at  Darfield, 40km west of Christchurch.  No deaths occurred that were directly related to the quake,  there being few houses of unreinforced construction in the area, and at that time of the day few people were out and about.

However, just a few months later at 12.51pm on 22nd February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch city.  The earthquake was centred only 6.7km from the city centre and at a depth of only 5km.  The intense shaking resulted in the destruction of many residences and  inner city buildings.  In the ten years since, the city has been in recovery mode.

 

Lower Kimi Akau (Shotover) Trail

A track to explore in the Queenstown area is the recently developed Lower Kimi Akau Trail, a scenic track that follows a section of the Shotover River.  It is a shared-use track for walkers and for cyclists (single track for experienced cyclists only).

 

Click to enlarge

The complete Lower Kimi Akau Trail is approximately 10km.  It winds its way from near the Arthur’s Point end of Littles Road down to the Old Shotover Bridge.  On this occasion, we walked a 7km section of the trail, shown by the solid red line, beginning at Fitzpatrick Road (an alternative access point) .  The broken red line leads from the Arthur’s Point end of the trail. The trail is mostly within sight of the Shotover River, dropping down to the river at times.  There is an exposed section where it would be advisable to supervise young children.