Mount Cavendish is located in the

Port Hills The Port Hills are a range of hills in Canterbury Region, so named because they lie between the city of Christchurch and its port at Lyttelton. They are an eroded remnant of the Lyttelton volcano, which erupted millions of years ago. The hi ...

, with views over

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Lyttelton. It is part of the crater wall of the extinct

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

that formed Lyttelton Harbour. The Mount Cavendish Reserve displays some of the best examples of lava flow to be seen on the Port Hills.

History

Mount Cavendish was first transferred to the Crown for a Scenic Reserve in 1910, by the Morten Brothers. The mountain was first named Hill Morten in 1912 by

Harry Ell Henry George Ell (probably 24 September 1862 – 27 June 1934), commonly known as Harry Ell, was a Christchurch City councillor and a New Zealand Member of Parliament. He is famous for his conservation work around Christchurch's Port Hills, his ...

, in recognition of the Morten family's gifts of land for the Summit Road and scenic reserves. The name Mount Cavendish was first given to nearby Mount Pleasant (after which a suburb is now named) in 1848, but did not stick and the peak of Hill Morten was named Mount Cavendish after the Hon. Richard Cavendish of the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch ...

Description

It is 448 metres (1,470 feet) high and falls within the Mount Cavendish Scenic Reserve, which sits at the top of the

Heathcote Valley Heathcote Valley is a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is named after Sir William Heathcote, who was secretary of the Canterbury Association. Location Nestled at the foot of the steep volcanic crags that form the northern edge of the hil ...

, close to the northern entrance to the Lyttelton Road Tunnel. Mount Cavendish is located approximately 10 km from Dyers Pass, and 4.7 km from Evans Pass via the

Summit Road A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

. On foot, it can be accessed via the Crater Rim Walkway or the Bridle Path (which connects Heathcote Valley and Lyttelton). Access is also via the

Christchurch Gondola The Christchurch Gondola is a tourist attraction service offered bChristchurch Attractionsin Christchurch, New Zealand. The gondola base is located in Heathcote Valley, and it traverses the slopes of Mount Cavendish in the Port Hills. Also known ...

, which has its lower terminal located on Bridle Path Road, in Heathcote Valley. The gondola opened on 24 November 1992. It was closed following the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

, not reopening until March 2013.

References

{{reflist

External links

Christchurch Gondola web site

Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English au ...