A major project for the Trust this year has been pulling together comprehensive information on all walks available to the public on Banks Peninsula and presenting them on visually appealing maps.
Project leader Suky Thompson said the project involved lots of consultation with all the different land managers that look after walks on the peninsula.
“Most land managers, such as DOC, Christchurch City Council and our wonderful private trusts have published their own brochures about their walks and have information on their websites. This project is designed to
include them all in one comprehensive, map-based resource,” said Suky.
“Let’s face it, most walkers don’t care who manages the track, they just want to know how long it is, how to get there and can they take their dog!”
The materials include posters for visitor centres accompanied by counter-top flipbooks giving more detail on the walks. These include lifelike “orthodrape” computer generated images of the four main walking centres;
Lyttelton, Governors Bay, Diamond Harbour and Akaroa; and a relief-shaded map of walks of greater Banks Peninsula.
“The idea is that people will choose a walk location using the maps and images to get an immediate sense of the terrain and amount of climbing involved, and then refer to tables alongside the maps to find out more
details ”, said Suky. All of the material will also be available online when the Trust launches its new sister website www.bpwalks.co.nz. This will include clickable links through to further information and act as a
portal to land managers sites.
Department of Conservation visitor centre supervisor Michael Smeaton said the website and accompanying flipbooks would make his job a lot easier.
“Most people love to pour over maps, and the flipbooks and website mean they can easily identify the walk that suits them best. “ said Mr Smeaton.
Ms Thompson said that a key piece of information listed is the information brochure relevant to each walk .
“We want people to pick up the brochure for their chosen walk before they set out so that they can plan and prepare properly”, she said.
Where brochures are currently lacking, or very out of date, the Trust is working to produce new ones, starting with a series of three brochures for walks in the Akaroa area.
The first brochure – Akaroa Village Walks – was released just before Christmas. Both the Akaroa Visitor Centre Manager and the Akaroa Adventure Centre who are retailing the brochures report that they are “flying out
the door”.
The rest of the project is scheduled to roll out in March 2014, when the two other brochures; Akaroa Country Walks and Akaroa Harbour and Bays; are ready.