Te Ara Pātaka/Summit Walkway 3: Mount Herbert/Te Ahu Patiki to Port Levy Saddle

Time: 3 hours and 40 minutes. 
Distance: 10.8 km
Start: Port Levy Saddle car park
Finish: Same place - it's there and back
Date: Friday 10th October 2025

Break down of times:
Port Levy Saddle to Mount Herbert/Te Ahu Patiki - 2 hours
Mount Herbert/Te Ahu Patiki to Port Levy Saddle - 1 hour and 25 minutes

Te Ara Pātaka/Summit Walkway is a 35 km trail that follows (more or less) an undulating ridgeline from Gebbies Pass through to Hilltop. In Te Reo Māori, "Ara" means path and "Pātaka" means food basket - the latter is an acknowledgement by local iwi that this area was once the food basket of their ancestors. The Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai have an informative brochure (pdf) complete with track descriptions and maps. The trail can be walked in five sections:

1. Gebbies Pass to Sign of the Packhorse Hut (~ 2 hours)
2. Sign of the Packhorse Hut to Mount Herbert/Te Ahu Patiki (~ 3 hours)
3. Mount Herbert/Te Ahu Patiki to Port Levy Saddle (~ 1.5 hours)
4. Port Levy Saddle to Mount Fitzgerald (~ 2-3 hours)
5. Mount Fitzgerald to Hilltop (~ 2-3 hours)

Today was section three - but in reverse, i.e. starting at the small Port Levy Saddle car park and heading westward to Mount Herbert/Te Ahu Patiki, mostly on an old farm track. But first we had to drive up Western Valley Road from Little River and geeeeez, she's a pretty rough ride. Shingle and narrow, the Toyota Wish boinged and bounced over all the pot-holes. Thankfully there was no oncoming traffic. 

We stepped out of the car and into a brisk nor-westerly wind - blowing just short of a gale - a foehn that gives you an 80's hairdo and a ringing in your ears. I pulled my snood over my head and checked out the sweet views down to Port Levy and out across the ocean to the cloud-cladded Tapuae-o-unuku and the inland Kaikouras. Very pretty. 

Actually once we set off and got used to a bit of buffeting, the wind wasn't too bad and quite often we were below a hillock and in the lee. From the car park, the first section is a bit of a climb and then eventually a drop down to an area scattered with old silvery tree skeletons. We paused for thought. It is essentially a tōtara grave.  Once upon a time, 98% of Banks Peninsular/Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū was blanketed in forest. With the arrival of European colonists, milling started in the 1840s and by 1900, 99% was deforested.  

You couldn't help but feel the loss. Tōtara, a podocarp, is a hardwood and was used for building - housing apparently. Also, the fence posts all around us were tōtara. Despite the tragedy, we got out the cameras, because those once mighty trees, 150 years later are now weathered and twisted into fabulous natural sculptures.   

We climbed up to point 913 m (a.k.a. ZZ Top) where there is a cairn and a pole marking the "summit". Prominent below is the rocky outcrop known as The Monument/Te Pōhue. According to the Christchurch City Council website, Te Pōhue is "one of the legendary homes of  the patupaiarehe" - fair skinned people who shunned daylight and come out on foggy days. There was no mention of Te Pōhue on Ngāi Tahu's cultural mapping project Kā Huru Manu though. 

From ZZ Top, it was just a hop skip and a jump, past the cow brush and up to the summit of Mount Herbert/Te Ahu Patiki (919 m). We took a few snaps and then dropped down into a lee for paramanawa.  The panorama was grand and it was heartening to see patches of regenerating native forest. The tōtara returning. The hillsides of Mount Bradley were yellow with gorse.

On the return journey, for some reason (probably caffeine related), we picked up the pace and the going was fairly speedy. We paused only once, briefly, to chat to a dreaded whippersnapper - he talked rapidly and freely volunteered alot of information in a very short space of time (a builder from Hornby who has hurt his shoulder and bikes alot).   

Back in the car we boinged and bounced down the hill to Little River, slowing to a halt at the bottom to take a photo of a section for sale. Dreams of chickens and a stockpile of old Camrys. We sat at the Little River Cafe and Store with our windswept boofy 80's hairdos munching on samosas and chatting about significant coincidences. Then afterwards we got to check out the shops. This is where you can buy earrings made out of tyres, a pair of trousers, a flower and a soap dish. Also a bag of nuts if that's your thing.