Christchurch Adventure Park eyes reopening after Port Hills blaze

By RNZ

Fire and Emergency New Zealand has returned Christchurch Adventure Park to its owners, three weeks after a large fire broke out on the Port Hills.

Hundreds of hectares were burned from Worsley Spur to Kennedys Bush, and the fire spread into parts of the adventure park.

In a statement, the park said control of the property was returned to it on Tuesday, which would allow further assessment work to take place.

The upper part of the brand-new Christchurch Adventure Park was destroyed in the Port Hills wildfire.

It said next week the haul rope of the chairlift would be X-rayed to check its structural integrity.

That would be the key factor determining the park’s reopening date.

The park said, at this stage, all going well it hoped to reopen at the end of this month.

The fire caused the cancellation of a major mountain biking event.

Crankworx Summer Series was due to be held at the park from March 1-3.

However, the fire, which burnt through 650 hectares including some of the adventure park, put paid to the event, organisers announced.

- RNZ