Mt Herbert, Diamond Harbour, Banks Peninsula, NZ

Mt Herbert / Te Ahu Pātiki (919m) is a long circuit hike accessible on foot from Diamond Harbour, a village on Banks Peninsula (Horomaka) just south of Christchurch, Canterbury. I think it is more popular as an out-and-back hike, for good reason (discussed below). Note that the above right peak is the easier-to-photograph Mt Bradley (855m).

My ascent route is orange number 6, in the center. I then descended orange 8, orange 5, and red 9. I followed the unmarked coastal route instead of red 5, which was probably a mistake, and then took red 4 back to Diamond Harbour at left.
Copyright Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust (https://www.bankspeninsulawalks.co.nz/diamond-harbour-walks/). All rights reserved. Used with permission.

DOC reports that the eastern track to the summit is closed for lambing from 8 August to 15 October. The western track is open year-round (following a re-routing to avoid pasture in Orton Bradley Park, a working farm).

As discussed below, I had to detour around cows on the way up, and I found part of the track unusually rough on the way down. This makes it my least favorite Banks Peninsula hike. My favorite is the Stony Bay Peak - Flag Hill circuit, which is similar in shape. In between was a section of the Summit Walkway starting from Hilltop Tavern.

Time

For an out-and-back hike along my outbound route:

DOC estimates 6-8 hours.
AllTrails users reported an average of 6 hours 2 minutes.

Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust estimates the time it takes to do portions of my return route (the Orton Bradley route). They are on this map. It gets complicated.

I didn’t record my circuit’s time. From photos, it seems to have been around 9.5 hours, including breaks.

Route

The outbound portion of my hike would have been around 7.9 kilometers (since AllTrails reports it was 15.8 kilometers out-and-back). The return portion of my hike would have been around 9.65 kilometers to the Orton Bradley parking lot (half of AllTrails’s 19.3 kilometers out-and-back), and then another 4.4 kilometers to Diamond Harbour along the road (per Google Maps). That’s about 22 kilometers round-trip.

The out-and-back elevation gain is 929 meters, so the ascent alone probably gained around 900 meters.

I took the eastern portion of the Mt Herbert Walkway, starting from this sharp bend in Bayview Road. Note that the trailhead is not along Mt Herbert Peak Road; this is the entrance to the farm which hikers pass through, but it is not the start of the easement track.

My ascent route is orange number 6 on this map. The easement track rose through hill pasture with sheep and cows. The cows were often blocking the path, so I had to make improvised detours and couldn't always cross fences at the designated stiles.

The slope was mostly gentle, but became moderately steep on one stretch approaching the peak.

There were sheep right at the peak, which I haven’t seen before or since in either NZ or Scotland. I got good views north across the bay toward Lyttelton, the southernmost part of Christchurch proper. (The whole Peninsula is governed as part of Christchurch.)

From there, I walked southwest along the Summit Walkway, passing Mt Herbert Shelter and its toilet. This walk offered me a fine view of Mt Bradley, the next peak to the west.

Instead of continuing west to Mt Bradley, I turned north to descend from the ridge one the western portion of the Mt Herbert Walkway. This runs along Te Wharau Stream through Orton Bradley Park. See orange numbers 8 and 5, then red number 9, on this map.

This track went through a number of overgrown fields and thickets. It was often rough, and muddy in a few places. I wish I had done my ascent route out-and-back, even though it would have meant dodging cows again.

I completed the loop by walking east to Diamond Harbour, initially on Marine Drive beside Charteris Bay. There was no sidewalk and limited space on the road margins, so it wasn’t a safe route. The Rod Donald Trust 3D map above suggests that an inland route (red 5) would be better.

To avoid cars, I diverged uphill (to the right) on Bayview Road (red 4 on the 3D map). It also had no sidewalk, but there was much less traffic.

If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 1 for the ascent and the ridge, a mixture of 3 and 2 for the upper part of the Orton Bradley descent, a 1 for the lower part of the Orton Bradley descent, and a 1 for walking along the road at the end (for terrain - not considering safety from cars).