The Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour is about having fun discovering the history of Aotearoa New Zealand by finding sites of significance in local communities from early Pacific voyaging and migration, European settlement to present day. The interaction between people, and people and the land have provided a rich history that the GeoTour invites you to explore.
---
Once the settlers arrived in 1850, they needed to move over the hill to swampy Christchurch, where there was more room to set up homes and businesses. The road over Evans Pass into Sumner was supposed to be finished before the settlers arrived but funding meant it wasn't completed until 1857. A steep path was quickly cut to allow bridled horses to be led or ridden over the Port Hills down into the Heathcote valley. Families travelled this arduous route with their few possessions. Larger, heavier possessions were brought over the sandbar by Sumner and into the estuary - no mean feat. Some lost all their possessions when the boats hit the bar and sank.
The Bridle Path was as much a physical as mental hurdle for the settlers. They had spent three months in a boat only to get off and find they had a formidable climb over the hill. With the type of clothing worn in those days this would have been quite a challenge particularly for the women in their long frocks.
http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/the-bridle-path/ has further information, well worth a read.
To be able to complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, remember to take a note of the codeword on the log book of the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded from here. If the passport is unavailable for any reason just keep a note of the codeword and try again later.