This pleasant walk through mountain beech forest begins at the Environmental Education Centre. You can have a close look at different stages of beech tree life and what grows on the trees - lichens, mosses and a small insect which secretes honey dew (a small droplet of sweet liquid that birds feed on). Between late December to February the red flowers of native mistletoe/pikirangi can produce patches of blazing colour in the tree canopy. Common native forest birds living in this area include rifleman/tītīpounamu, bellbird/korimako, tomtit/miromiro and grey warbler/riroriro.

Getting there

About 110 km from Christchurch on State Highway 73 towards Arthur’s Pass, is a signposted side-road to the Craigieburn Picnic Area on the Broken River ski field road. Access to Craigieburn Valley is another 1 km further along the highway. Both ski field roads have locked gates further up valley during the summer.