Summit Road

• To the first European migrants the Port Hills posed a formidable barrier as the new arrivals struggled with their few possessions up the Bridle Path from the port at Lyttelton towards Christchurch. Once at the summit, however, even these travel weary folk must have been overwhelmed by the glorious vistas all around them. Ahead, across the Canterbury Plains they would have been struck by the splendour of the Southern Alps, stretching range upon range as far as the eye could see. As they glanced behind them the hills that shelter the calm waters and charming inlets of the Lyttelton basin parted here and there to disclose intriguing views of Lake Ellesmere and the broad Pacific beyond.

• Harry Ell was fascinated by these hills. He was a public-spirited man, and a lover of nature. In many ways he was ahead of his time as a conservationist determined to protect the remnants of the natural flora. In his dedication to preserve what was best, he had the brilliant idea of involving the public by ensuring that they had access to the whole area. Thus arose the exciting concept of a highway, together with walking tracks, along the summit of the Port Hills, and indeed extending right around the peninsula, with rest houses spaced at easy intervals.

• To this end Ell cut short a successful political career in order to devote the rest of his life to the pursuit of his dream. Overcoming political difficulties and incredible financial constraints (development took place during the great depression of the 1920’s and 1930’s) this remarkable man had laid the foundations for the Summit Road and its rest houses as we see them today by the time of his death in 1934.

• Learn more about the Summit Road Society and their conversation work at https://www.summitroadsociety.org.nz/