Real estate by koha? Your chance to get a slice of Canterbury's peaks
Hi Canterbury,
What do you think about the opportunity to transfer this hillside to public ownership? Will you be donating?
500-hectares of Lyttelton hillside has been put up for auction and Stuff has teamed up with a charitable trust to get the high-country plot into public ownership.
The Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust launched its Te Ahu Pātiki project to purchase the spot between Mt Herbert and Mt Bradley after an offer from a local farmer.
$1.5 million is needed to set up the park and the trust has been crowd funding for the last $600,000 it needs.
With five weeks until the deadline sale, $120,000 still needs to be raised.
Multiple land crossings scattered across the private land have been accessible only through land-owner permission. Ron Donald Trust manager Suky Thompson says that public ownership would guarantee the Te Ara Pātaka tramping network, running from Akaroa to Lyttelton, would always be accessible.
"Those private land crossings are unsecured, which means that they rely on the goodwill of the current landowner. If that landowner was to have a change of attitude, or if the land was to be sold to a new owner who didn't want the public there, they could be closed."
Head over to Stuff's and The Press' Givealittle page and don't forget to type NFP if you don't want your comment used in the Northern Outlook.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
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