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Recreation: The estuary, protected by the Southshore Spit, provides a sheltered area for many water sports, such as boating, fishing, windsurfing, sailing and kayaking. The Jubilee Walkway on the eastern margin of the Avon River and estuary provides a variety of experiences as it passes through pine plantations, native shrubs and tidal flats, joining up with the estuary at Caspian Street. The Avon-Heathcote Estuary is one of the best places in New Zealand to go bird watching. The western shoreline is an ideal place to watch birds when the tide is going out. Flora: Both salt and fresh water wetlands occur around the mouth of the Avon River, at the head of the estuary. Patches of raupo are surrounded by reed-like plants (oioi, the lake club rush, and sea rush) in Raupo Bay, south of the Bridge Street bridge. Raupo, a freshwater plant, indicates the presence of freshwater springs. Close to the shore, mat or turf-forming plants cover small areas, forming a meadow-like vegetation. Mat plants such as glasswort (ureure), wild celery, native musk and shore pimpernel provide a colourful display of flowers during the spring and summer months. Eelgrass (na na) is the only New Zealand flowering plant that lives below mid-tide. Eels and shrimps feed on the grass-like leaves and the roots of the grass help to bind the sediments of the mudflats together. Fauna: The mudflats in the estuary provide a haven for hairy-handed crabs, mud snails (titoko), wedge shells (hanikura), whelks and microscopic creatures, which provide food for young fish and wading birds. Populations of small marine worms can exceed 20,000 per square metre. Flounder (patiki) and other flatfish enter the estuary to breed, while eels (tuna), adult whitebait (inanga), yelloweyed mullet and many small fish are daily or seasonal visitors, feeding on plankton and marine species. The Avon-Heathcote Estuary andsurrounds are internationally recognised as an important wetland for birds, that support 5–6% of the South Island pied oystercatcher (torea) population. The Te Huingi Manu Wildlife Sanctuary provides an important feeding and roosting site for water fowl, such as pied, black and little cormorants, and royal spoonbills. In the past 150 years, 113 bird species have been recorded in the estuary, which is unique for the variety of waders and wetland birds in one place. Flocks of geese, black swans, shoveler (hono), grey teal (tete), ducks, oystercatchers, godwits (kuaka), dotterels (tuturiwhatu), plovers, pied stilts (poaka), herons, royal spoonbill (kotuku-ngutupapa), and many other birds can be found in the estuary during late summer-autumn. Raupo Bay is the main roost for the pied stilt (poaka), and the tip of Southshore Spit is the best place to see godwits (kuaka), oystercatchers and terns. McCormacks Bay provides a good place to watch black cormorants (kawau), gulls and terns. Visitors walking dogs should ensure that they are kept on a leash to avoid disturbing roosting coastal and migratory birds, particularly at high tide. Godwits and the Estuary: The population of mainly young bar-tailed godwits which wintered over on the tidal flats has been expanded by a good number of new arrivals. Last summer about 400 of the godwits spending the spring and summer in New Zealand were banded. It is thought the migrants fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand, a journey of about 11,000km which takes about a week. They are thought to come from Alaska in stages up the western edge of the Pacific. In their early years, some young birds do not return to the northern hemisphere breeding grounds with the rest of their fellows, choosing instead to spend their time on New Zealand estuaries. Natural History Two thousand years ago there was no estuary. The shoreline was 3-4km further inland. Glaciers ground down greywacke rock into gravel, which was carried down the Ashley and Waimakariri Rivers to the coastal shoreline where it was dumped as sand. As the sand built up to create the Southshore Spit, water pooled behind it creating the Avon-Heathcote Estuary (Ihutai), 450 years ago. Today the estuary covers 880 hectares and is 12km from the city centre. Human History People have lived and gathered food in the estuary area for over 600 years. The estuary has been a major source of food for Maori. It was part of a large network of food resources and trading between families. Such trading helped maintain tribal connections throughout the South Island. Several thousand campsites have been found along the sand dunes between the estuary and the Waikari River mouth. The mouth of the estuary was an important trade route for flax and potatoes in exchange for steel adzes, axes, muskets and other goods. The estuary provided vital access to a network of waterways stretching from Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) to the Kowai River and the estuary channel provided an opening to the fishing grounds of Te Kaikai a Waro (Pegasus Bay). The first settlers were the Waitaha iwi who lived in two main kaika around the estuary: Raekura and Te Kai o Te Karoro. They built whare from local flax, raupo and trees. Later in the 1500s, the Ngāti Māmoe iwi had a settlement near the estuary on Tauhinu Korokio, today's Mt Pleasant. About one hundred years after this, Ngāi Tahu under chief Turakautahi, established a pā north of the Waimakariri, called Kaiapoi. While Ngāi Tahu did not live alongside the estuary itself, they visited and used the area as a mahinga kai in a similar way to their predecessors. Ngai Tahu harvested shellfish, eels and waterfowl on the tidal flats. The estuary was rich with tuna (eels), kanakana (lamprey), inaka (adult whitebait), patiki (flounder) and pipi. Kumara and aruhe (edible fern root) were grown in the sandy soils at the mouth of the Ōtākaro. Manuka weirs were built around the mouth of the river during the eel migrations and patiki were abundant in the mudflats across the middle of the estuary, an area called Waipatiki (flounder water). The estuary was the main access route to Christchurch prior to the opening of the Lyttelton rail tunnel in 1867. It was relied upon for trade, food and social contact. Whaleboats, yachts, fishing vessels, paddle steamers, schooners and conventional steamers all used the Avon-Heathcote Estuary for their access to Christchurch. Up until the early 1900s the estuary was an important port, linking Kaiapoi, Sumner, and the bays of Banks Peninsula, carrying passengers, firewood, farm products, machinery, stock and general goods. Up until the 1940s there were various schemes to dredge the estuary and connect it via a major canal, along Linwood Avenue, to the city. The scheme became impractical as rail and road replaced shipping as the main method of transport with the opening of the Lyttelton road tunnel in 1964.
Publications: The Estuary: Where Our Rivers Meet the Sea - Christchurch's Avon-Heathcotte Estuary and Brooklands Lagoon (ISBN: 0473015951) Parks Unit, Christchurch City Council, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1992. Edited by S J Owen Sand Dunes to Suburb: Ihutai (the nose of the tides). The history, environment and people of Southshore.. Southshore Residents Association History Group (2006) Southshore History Group, Christchurch. Book 156pp Notes: November 2006. Edited by Don Rowlands, Peter Moore and Lee Osborn. Additional contributions from Les Batcheler, Bernie Calder, Lee Osborn, Peter Neal, Lynne Hillier, James Inglis and Olive Lawson. The book coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the Southshore Residents Association.
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