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About Te Moenga-o-Wheke / The Tors
The Difficulty Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (via Bridle Path from the gondola to Summit Road)
★★☆☆☆ (via Bridle Path via the pipeline trail to Summit Road)
Te Moenga-o-Wheke / The Tors is an ideal location on Port Hills to overlook the scenery from both sides of the ridge. The expansive views of Christchurch, Canterbury Plain, Southern Alps, the bays in Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō as well as the rolling hills on Banks Peninsula all come into the panorama for you.
There are various routes leading to this prominent peak, the Bridle Path from the gondola side is one of the choices. Once you arrive the Summit Road via Bridle Path, head west and follow Crater Rim Walkway or just move along the road. There is a small trail to go up from Summit Road at a sharp turn below Castle Rock.
I sighted this path for the first time while searching for a special place to shoot time-lapse clips. It was a very short climb to the top of The Tors where a pole stood there, which was a tiny “adventure” for me before I knew where this trail led. The spacious platform on one side of the summit was the spot I shot the scenes from both sides of the hill.
A few people went to the summit when I was there each time, but it was safe to leave the cameras on the edge of the cliff without worrying about someone walking into the view accidentally or my gears and me getting in someone’s way. In 2022 it was my testing ground for several vintage manual lens. During that time I was about to leave the job and planned to spend months in Taiwan for hiking and shooting.
Before taking any lens into the mountains I always tested their performance thoroughly and The Tors was the classroom offering me the practice. Now I think I have more lens than I really need. Most of the lens I tried there are just staying in storage and all the time-lapse clips from there are still waiting for their chance to be seen.
