The weather was beautiful for the first weekend of this year’s Banks Peninsula Walking Festival. Walkers were spread far and wide over eight different locations around the Peninsula.
30 people hopped on the Quail Island Ferry for a ‘Marooned on Quail Island’ family adventure. ‘Pirate’ Suky lead the treasure hunt and Ian McLennan from the Quail Island Ecological Restoration Trust guiding a nature walk, assisted by Mike Bowie from Lincoln University and Jason Butt from ECan. One participant commented that “it was great having Mike and Jason talking about the work and progress of the Trust – it has totally inspired us!”
Kaitorete Spit was another adventure, and for those who are aiming to complete this multi-year challenge of walking the whole spit then they have made a great start – covering 16kms in the heat on this first stage.
Volcanologist Sam Hampton guided the walk to Pa Bay and Greater Okains Bay. “Thank you for organising today’s walk to Pa Bay. It was the perfect day and Sam & Liz were brilliant – so knowledgeable and great communicators,” was just some of the feedback from the day.
The Festival will be running for another three weeks and it is great to know that so many walkers will be getting out and about to enjoy the beautiful Banks Peninsula, with several hundred people taking part in this event.
