Climbed up to Mt Pleasant, one of the higher peaks on the Port Hills to snap this picture of Lyttleton, Christchurch is on the other side.
Were there forests before?
No not really, the East coast of South Island is guarded by the Southern Alps so the rain clouds couldn’t come over, causing drought (until this year with El Niño), this affected the plant life that could grow. The East coast is mostly grass land.