Christchuch - tips on things to do

jester77

Will be flying into Christchurch next month for a week, any tips on must see or must do things? Will be renting a car so travelling around the island is not a problem.

Delorian

Get out of Christchurch pretty quick! Man I thought that place was quiet, but maybe I was just unlucky. If you book your first night in a hostel and head to an i-site (NZ's national information centre) you'll find a gazillion things to do.

If you have a month there's a lot to see on both coasts. Also driving the Transalpine across to Greymouth is great, some excellent walks on the way. Then you could go north to Abel Tasman. Or Tansalpine and then south to the Sounds and Queenstown. Some amazing walks down there, I'm doing the Routeburn next month. There is a place with boulders that's meant to be impressive, I think south of ChCh.

Just do a bit of research and you'll find loads of things to do. It depends what you're into, hiking, extreme sports, beaches and water activities, etc.

pclancy

Christchurch itself is worth a day or two of wandering around the nice parks and gardens, kayak down the river, maybe go up the gondola etc but after that i'd move on. About an hours drive to the east is an amazing place called Akaroa that i'd highly recommend you visit. The drive itself is lovely, mostly beside the sea then up through the mountains and back down windy roads into a gorgeous bay. It was actually discovered by the French around the same time NZ was discovered by Abel Tasman i think. Streetnames etc are French and its a lovely village to visit. There you can do Dolphin tours, boating, hang out on the beach, walks, eat at french restaurants etc. I would recommend a place called the Half Moon Cottage, one of the niceest hostels i've stayed in NZ.

If you have time you can drive west to the amazing Arthurs Pass which is a fantastic drive through some mountain ranges towards the east coast. There's a hotel halfway called Bealey Hotel where i stayed last year and had the best views i've probably ever had from a hotel

podgeandrodge

went to christchurch in February, nice place. If you can afford it (eur180 per person) do the hot air balloon over christchurch - 5 hour experience one hour up in the balloon (the rest getting it ready at 5am with the pilots!) Unbelievable experience but book for the earliest day u can as weather means the flights are regularly cancelled so you need to have later days to rebook for to ensure success. We got lucky on 3rd try! The company is "Up up and away" www.ballooning.co.nz I think. Google it. I'm not connected. Just a crazily happy customer!

preddy

Whale watching in Kaikoura a must, if there around but its a nice drive up. also a coastal train.

Crumble Froo

depends what you're into, really.

if you like music, there's an awesome local music scene, punk still lives here, metal is growing slowly, and there's always a trendsters indie gig happening, it seems.

if you've ever wanted to learn to surf, the waves at sumner are just the gentlest, rolling waves you could find. nice size, usually a decent wind and if you wana get lessons, the dudes who do them in sumner are brilliant.

on the offchance you skate, there's a wicked bowl in north beach, and a generally sweet park at washies. and skating is a really common way of getting around here, and is far from restricted to male teens.

scenery's quite nice, if you like rock climbing/rambling, start at taylor's mistake and go where you like. porthills are quite lovely to wander in, not entirely unlike ireland, tbh (though i guess that's a bigger deal for thos eof us living here permanantly who are liable to homesickness).

the jazz and blues festival will be here next month too, i think. always good for a larf. the museum's quite interesting too, particularly if you're not familiar with new zealand's history (honestly, i'd never heard of a moa or the moriori till i went there).

as the garden city too, it has heaps of greenery, parks, and the botanical gardens are absolutely fantastic.

maybe not the biggest tourist hotspot, but a gorgeous wee piece of nz and i love living here, always something on

jank

Christchurch is a great place to live. To visit, there are plenty of things to do in and around the place. If you are into your outdoor stuff then its heaven on earth. The city centre itself is nothing much to write home about. The area around the arts centre and Hagely park is nice enough though. Of course there are loads of beaches, Summner is probably the nicest, mountian biking, port hills is fcuking awsome for it. Tramping again port hills, or banks penninsula or the southern alps are only an hour away. If its winter there are ski buses in the morning that leave for the mountains and bring you back.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Christchurch


Where else in the world can you get up for a surf in the morning, midday leave for the mountains for an afternoons ski and be back home in time for tea. I havent done this myself but know people who have done. Life can be VERY good in Christchurch

As Crumble says maybe not the tourist hot spot such as Wellington or Queenstown but as a place to live well if I bought a house there tommorrow, settled down and had to live there for the rest of my days I would be a happy man.

I could never see myself living permanently in Sydney but Christchurch I definately could! Cant stress how good a place NZ or chirstchurch is. Some cool pubs around the place where there is a big emphasis on live music. Not as hectic as welly but a nice chilled out vibe to the place. Some people may find it "boring" as a holiday but these people are usually after booze girls and booze which they can find in Queenstown.

Also one of the driest place in NZ, They have some great summers there.

Crumble Froo

antichch is quite the awesome.
even if all the cool international acts give us **** for such christian references in the name

honestly, if you spend some time here and look beyond the touristy ****, there' sa really great vibe here.

also, a hell of a lot cheaper than queenstown