Peninsula displays popular

Press, 9 January 1981, Page 7

Peninsula displays popular

Activities organised in Akaroa by the Lands and Survey Department have attracted many holidaymakers. The main attraction is a photographic and slide display of Banks Peninsula at the courthouse. More than 2500 people visited the display between; December 22 and January 5, the attendance for a single: day peaking at almost 390 on) January 3. according to the: department. The photographs and slides were taken by Mr Brian High, a Timaru photographer and graphic design-, er, who worked for about six months on the project.] The pictures include scenes] of the bays of the Peninsula? areas of native bush, re-’ serves, and facets of Penin-] sula life. One of the largest colour photographs is. one of the' Akaroa lighthouse at sunrise, on its original site at the' head of the harbour. The; lighthouse has since been, shifted to Cemetery Point; and can be seen from the] town. Mr High said that to get: the photograph he had. slept: the night at the Heads in his car. It had been in Septem-'

ber and had been very cold with snow falling during the night. ■ It had taken about twc ■weeks to take all of the photographs and slides. “I attempted to explore • the visual potential to bring the display up to somewhere jnear, the level of the true beauty of the Peninsula,” ( said Mr Hugh. “If the dis- • play inspires people they ■should go out into the bush i to have a look. They will find the Peninsula is far more beautiful than the photographs portray.” I Mr High said he regretted that there had not been imore time and funds available for the project and that 1 the photographs had not been taken throughout the Jour seasons to portray more accurately the Peninsula. i The project is a pioneer one. The department hopes I to be able to collate similar j displays in other areas of ;New Zealand. In another display at the Akaroa courthouse, the de- : partment, with the help of jthree students in the special I employment scheme, has put I together examples of plants I growing on Banks Peninsula.

Some of the plants are ?! native to the area. One of i them is tlie miro tree, of Ji which only nine are believed j to exist, six of them in re-! ! serves. The miro tree in the ?! courthouse is now under in- ; I tensive care because it is ? ! unaccustomed to life in a ;jP ot - The display of plant took '! about six months to plan hand about 10 weeks to set! hup. according to Mrs Rob-! ! ;erta Coutts, assistant divi-j r !sional officer (national parks I ; !and reserves) in the depart-i ment's Christchurch office, i The display may remain! * open beyond the original 1

closing date of January 22, depending on the numbers of j people attending. The courtJ house will be open from 10 ■la.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. As well as the displays, department rangers are conducting guided tours of reserves in and around Akaroa. | Mrs Lois Holdemess, cusjtodian of the Akaroa museum, said that many people Iwere visiting the museum. ! The old steam tug Lyttelton, which has provided free I rides round Akaroa Harbour tor about eight days, has : also been popular.