A hard-working volunteer is outraged after a "hoon", who broke into Te Mata Peak to drive off-road, destroyed more than 30 native trees that took four years of hard work to grow.
On Saturday morning, a car was found crashed down a bank at the Havelock North attraction, after access gates had been cut and tracks driven through gardens.
Friends of Te Mata Peak volunteer Mike Lusk said he was part of a group who regularly planted and maintained trees on the Peak. Then, on Saturday morning, 31 of them were snapped off at the ground and destroyed.
"I am very upset to find that a vehicle has been taken up to the high lookout in the newly planted area on the east side of Te Mata Peak Rd and that it has been driven over a number of trees planted mostly by our group," he said.
There were 23 destroyed cabbage trees up to 1.75m tall, four manuka trees 1.5m tall and 4 eucalypts up to 5m tall.