Bottle Lake Forest Park

Visitor information

The main entrance and car park for Bottle Lake Forest is from Waitikiri Drive, off Burwood Road, via either Marshlands or Burwood. There is also access from Spencer Park and from North Shore along the Southern Pegasus Bay track.

Waitikiri Drive gates are open between 6am and 11pm year-round.

Gate closures are administered by ADT security. A call out fee will be charged to release vehicles.

About the park

Bottle Lake Forest Park is situated approximately 10km north-east of central Christchurch, adjacent to the coast. It is a production forest and trees are felled and logged in a 30 year rotation by the Selwyn Plantation Board. Operational logging areas are usually clearly signposted and marked 'out of bounds'.

The visitor centre, located at the Waitikiri Drive entrance, has map boards and brochures with details of the tracks and trails which include mountain-bike tracks, horse-trekking trails and walking tracks. Tracks include long and short options to suit all ages and levels of fitness.

Developed from a farm in the early 1900s the forest expanded from coastal protection plantings to its present size. It is planted with mostly Pinus radiata and covers over 800 hectares of coastal sand dunes. The combined area of these forests is four times the size of Hagley Park and as such forms an important asset to metropolitan Christchurch.

Wildlife

The bird species present in an area depends on the type and diversity of habitats. As Bottle Lake is a working forest, this changes over time as the forest matures. Different areas at different stages of forest production will provide different habitats.

Plant life

The forest consists mainly of Pinus radiata but is also host to an array of native and exotic understory plants. Throughout the plantation is a carpet of indigenous moss, lichens and common ferns such as bracken, pigfern, chain fern and occasional water fern.

The coastal strip bordering Bottle Lake Forest is largely dominated by marram grass and tree lupin, with remnants of some windblown stands of Pinus radiata, some macrocarpa and exotic ice plant which is now used to assist in dune stabilisation.

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