Mount Peel is a mountain located in

South Canterbury South Canterbury is the area of the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand bounded by the Rangitata River in the north and the Waitaki River (the border with the Otago Region) to the south. The Pacific Ocean and ridge of the Southe ...

, New Zealand. It consists of three peaks, Mount Peel (often referred to as Big Mt Peel), Middle Mt Peel () and Little Mt Peel/Huatekerekere (). Mt Peel is tall and is owned by the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

and Mt Peel Station. It lies just south of the Rangitata river and is north-west of Geraldine. The Peel Forest Park Scenic Reserve is the largest in the Geraldine area, covering around Little Mount Peel / Huatekerekere.

Etymology

The nearby forest was named by Francis Jollie, who settled in the area in late 1853. Jollie had named the forest after Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Excheque ...

, the British

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

who had died in 1850, the year that Canterbury was founded. The mountain and the nearby community of

Peel Forest Peel Forest is a small community in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. It is located near the Peel Forest Park Scenic Reserve and about north of Geraldine. The town features a Cafe & Bar, a camping ground and an outdoor recreation facility. ...

also took Peel's name.

Access

Mt Peel and the surrounding

contain many well maintained and popular walking tracks. There is also a small, less maintained track, heading from Little Mt Peel to Middle Mt Peel and then to Mt Peel. Different tracks cater to different climbing abilities, ranging from short 30 minute walks, to full day/overnight tramps. Just below the summit of Little Mt Peel/Huatekerekere is the small Tristram Harper Memorial hut. Complete with rain water storage, two beds and long drop. A trig station is located on top of Little Mt Peel, while a cell tower and communication hut are found at the top of Mt Peel.

Flora and fauna

There is much unique flora and fauna in Peel Forest. The three largest trees in Peel Forest belong to the family Podocarpaceae, a very ancient family going back in time more than 100 million years. The three large trees are kahikatea (white pine), tōtara, and mataī (black pine). CC-BY icon

This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
licence. The native birds in the forest include bellbird, silvereye, tomtit, rifleman, grey warbler, kererū, fantail, silvereye, shining cuckoo and longtailed cuckoo. There are also many lizards including the jeweled gecko and McCann's skink.

References

{{coord, 43, 50, 48, S, 171, 09, 24, E, region:NZ, display=title Peel Timaru District