Christchurch - Crepes, Gardens, and Kiwis, Oh My!

Christchurch was definitely a very nice city to visit, although when I got there, I did feel like I had been there before, many times, when I had visited various old English towns.

It definitely lives up to its title of "The Garden City." Gardens are everywhere, and the city has one huge botanic garden with everything from rose gardens to a "Natural New Zealand" garden. The flowers and plants everywhere made the city very nice to look at and stroll through. Going on a gondola ride down the River Avon would have been very nice as well, although we enjoyed walking along it nearly as much.

There's the typical "Old English town" things to visit as well--you can take a walk through the cathedral, looking at the stained glass, or you can talk on the phone in a bright red phone booth, or you can browse through the local market in the town square, or go see the old university campus. You can even go play a giant game of chess in front of the cathedral and have a cheering section!

Christchurch is a good base point as well if you want to make day trips rather than moving yourself every day. Kaikoura is a 2-hour train/shuttle trip away, which is a great day trip for seeing wildlife, or you can go to Akaroa, on the peninsula near Christchurch, and go rafting or see more wildlife. I didn't go there but I heard its a good place to go, and rather amusingly, based on an old French village rather than Old English. The two towns don't quite have the same rivalry as their predecessors though.

The friends that I was with were convinced that if they lived anywhere in New Zealand, they would live in Christchurch. I thought it was a very nice place, but it was a little small for my tastes (for a city). It definitely has plenty to offer, and definitely the most touristy shopping I'd found yet in New Zealand--but this was probably because Christchurch is generally the starting point for most trips and tours around the South Island. It was nice though, because I managed to get all the souvenirs my family requested in one place, and then sent them off so I didn't have to lug them around the rest of the country!

Quick Tips:

I would definitely recommend making sure that your trip puts you into Christchurch on a weekend. This is when the local markets go up in both the town square and on the old university campus across from the Botanic Gardens. Both markets have a great selection of Maori jewelry, made out of bone, greenstone, and paua, along with other local crafts and a wonderful selection of food. We were big fans of the fruit and the crepes.

Best Way To Get Around:

I would definitely recommend staying in a hostel that is somewhere close to the centre of town--at least inside the central loop that the tram goes around. Then everywhere you want to go is an easy, rather short walk away. Any tours or wildlife sanctuaries, etc, will send a bus to pick you up to go anywhere farther out of town.

Travel to and from Christchurch is convenient as well. There is a bus that makes a loop of all the major hostels and takes you to the train/bus station and the airport, and its free one way and around for the other.

We stayed in the Rolleston YHA for 2 nights, and we got quite a surprise when we first arrived. Having booked in a group of three, they gave us our own private three bedroom! We really quite enjoyed this, and promptly threw all of our stuff all around the room.

The hostel was a rather small, which was nice, since that's not what we were expecting at all, with it being the YHA. It cost a bit more than other hostels, at $26NZ, because we weren't members of the YHA. They still had everything we needed, including the combination kitchen/Internet cafe, although the Internet was the type that you pay for and then it takes forever just to load the homepage for your email. The bathroom was just down the hall and very clean, and our room itself was a bit small, but we had no complaints because it was our own. It had a nice big window for ventilation and the room was clean, nice looking, and the beds were comfy.

One of the best things about this hostel was its location. It is on one of the corners of the central Christchurch tram line, which takes you from the YHA to the Cathedral and has a nice narrated tour--you can also eat dinner while on the dining car, going in circles around Christchurch, as well. But the hostel was right across the street from the location of the Christchurch market, and across the other street from the Botanic Gardens. It was maybe a 10-minute walk into the very centre of Christchurch, and the Cathedral and more markets and lots of touristy shopping.

The YHA was also one of the major stops for transportation to and from the airport and the train station, with a list for each of the services that you can sign up for.

Overall, a nice surprise for the typically large YHA chain.

Contrary to what Lonely Planet said, this hostel was not a place I would recommend to anyone. It's not that the hostel itself was all that shoddy—walking into it, it seemed nice enough. It was very large and sprawling, but I wasn't too bothered as I was only spending one night there on my way out of the country. My room was pretty big and had four beds and a couple of chairs, and wall-height lockers for your stuff. There was a huge kitchen and Internet/lounge area, along with games and other such activities.

These things were pluses for the hostel. However, had I been staying in Christchurch for longer, rather than just being the victim of another travel fiasco, I would not have been very impressed with the location—it was rather out of the way and was a good few blocks to get to anywhere where I could find a shuttle to the airport the next day. The other hostel I stayed in, the Rolleston House, was much better located, so this may have spoiled me a bit. Or at this point, when I was actually trying to find a shuttle, I could have just been in such a bad mood that I was biased against everything about the hostel.

My room was fine until around 3am, when the other three inhabitants of my room arrived. They were raging drunk and singing and making all sorts of racket. Luckily, one of them went to sleep fairly quickly, but the other two decided to get on the bed underneath me, and proceeded to have sex. Since I was in a bed that was attached to theirs, I was not very impressed, and obviously did not sleep very well.

The next morning I woke up and, when taking a shower, realized that I was totally covered in red bites. I was willing to excuse the hostel for the poor behavior of a few of their inhabitants, but I stayed in a fair number of hostels in my trip around Australia and New Zealand, and this was the only one that had BEDBUGS. And bedbugs it had—I was absolutely covered in bites, and I know they didn't come from the hostel I stayed in previously because I spent 3 nights there and never once itched.

So, despite anything else that the hostel may have going for it, I do not recommend it at all solely on the fact that bedbugs are disgusting, and unless you like itching and washing everything you own, I'd very much advise against staying here. Also, another word of warning: they have since been taken out of the latest version of Lonely Planet.

This was the cutest little booth in the market that we found. The man running the booth is very amusing and very amiable, and sings while he is making your crepes. My friend is allergic to wheat and he even made her want a crepe!

The crepes were very good and the perfect texture--not too crisp but not too soft either. You get your choice of topping as well. I don't remember the exact cost, but I know it was ~$5NZ for a very filling lunch.

We were very excited about going to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, as we had booked a tour that would first include a Maori performance and then take us through the reserve and show us the Kiwi wildlife. I've reviewed the Maori performance in a different review in this journal, just because I have totally different reviews for each of the two parts of my evening.

We booked our trip to the Wildlife Reserve through a tour, of which sadly I cannot remember the name. It cost $45NZ each, and we got picked up directly from our hostel and taken out of town to the Reserve in time for the performance. After the performance, a guide took us into the reserve.

We got to see all sorts of interesting creatures that we wouldn't have seen otherwise, and the guide was really quite good. He had fascinating stories about all the wildlife we were seeing, such as the kea bird, which was chosen as the smartest animal by National Geographic (or a group just like it, I can't remember which). Anyway, it was chosen as this because it is very good at harassing people and learning how to steal any food they have. We got to go into a pen full of these swooping around, and some people even had the pleasure of having one sit on their head.

There was other assorted wildlife, but the other two that I remember most clearly are the tuatara, which is a very, very old type of lizard that is native to New Zealand, and the kiwi. For some reason, they also had all the animals that were introduced to NZ that like to eat the kiwi, like the ferret, stoat, etc. Luckily, they were kept in cages well away from the kiwi birds.

When we finally got to see the kiwi, what everyone had been waiting for, we were taken into a nocturnal house. We couldn't take any pictures because we would blind the birds because they aren't used to that much light, and we had to be very quiet. It was well worth it though, because we got to see how adorable kiwis really are, really like little brown balls of fur--and when they feel threatened, they roll up into a ball and roll down any nearby hills because its their fastest method of escape. Sadly, this explains a little bit why they are being hunted so easily by introduced mammals like the ferret.

Even though we didn't get any pictures of the actual kiwi birds, it was well worth it to see the animal that New Zealanders have named themselves after. Also, we found out as information for a future trip that Stewart Island (the small island off the bottom of the South Island) is very good to visit if you want to go out at night looking for kiwis, because they are everywhere, since no outside mammals have been allowed onto the island.

Overall, a very informative and interesting tour.

We were very excited about this section of the tour we took at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, a tour that cost $45NZ for both a Maori performance and a guided wildlife tour afterward. We had heard a lot about Maori cultural performances and thought it would be a very enriching experience.

However, we soon realized that the performances, often that go along with dinners, that people talk about are the ones on the North Island, generally around Rotorua, since there are many more Maori in the north. This performance very much had the ring of a high school play around it, with a bunch of people dressing up and reading lines. And I'm all for cultural diversity and whatnot, but out of all the high-school age kids on stage, all looked Maori except for one guy, who was maybe 6' 3", and very white. I'm glad that he's proud of his country's Maori heritage, but it seemed to make the performance all the more fake, since he obviously didn't belong.

Some parts were interesting, like seeing them do the haka and some of the songs, but a large part was rather corny, and we thought must be better done in places like Rotorua, since these dinners and performances are such a huge hit up there.

Afterwards, we got to walk through the "living Maori village," which was really just the performers standing around a few Maori meeting houses and performing tricks with things like poi. We got to try out the poi for ourselves, which were round balls on the end of long strings that the girls could make twirl in all sorts of ways. When we tried, we generally just ended up hitting someone or making everyone laugh. It definitely was fun to try though.

Overall, I was not highly impressed by this part of our tour, although I would definitely recommend the wildlife section, as noted in another review in my Christchurch journal. If you want to enjoy a real Maori cultural experience, I would definitely recommend doing so while still on the North Island.

What Christchurch is known for--its wonderful gardens. We had an afternoon ramble through these sprawling grounds that surround the Avon River (sound familiar?), just outside the central loop in Christchurch.These gardens can keep you busy for hours, because there are so many different sections to explore. There are huge old trees to lounge under and take a nap, or read a good book. Or, when we were there, there was even a stage with a play going on, set up in one of the lawns. There are rose gardens, natural NZ gardens, fountains, and the River Avon, among other things. And don't worry, there are lots of maps to guide you around in case you feel that once you enter, you'll never find your way out again!

This train ride was touted as one of the most scenic rides in New Zealand. It takes you from Christchurch to Greymouth, straight across the spectacular Southern Alps.

We were impressed with the scenery, especially when going from the Canterbury Plains up into the Alps at the beginning. However, after riding the ferry from Wellington to Picton, through the Marlborough Sounds, it seemed to be a bit of a letdown, especially when nearing Greymouth.

They do provide a car that people can walk to and get pictures without having the glare from the windows, which was nice. However, unlike another train I have ridden a few times in Colorado, it was not totally open (there was a cover and window spaces, just without the windows), so especially near the beginning of the ride, it was rather interesting attempting to jockey for a position in which you could actually get a reasonable picture of something other than the person next to yours camera.

There was a stopoff in Arthur's Pass, up in the Alps, which was a nice place to stop, stretch our legs, and grab a few photos on ground that wasn't moving. The stop wasn't terribly long, as there wasn't much else at Arthur's Pass besides toilets and photo opportunities.

Overall, I thought I got some reasonable pictures, but the train ticket was rather expensive (~$75NZ for a student ticket) as opposed to riding a bus. One plus is that all the major bus carriers meet the train in Greymouth, so we were on our way to Fox Glacier in no time, which was good since our day entailed approx. 9 hours of travel overall to get from Christchurch to Fox Glacier.

The cathedral is at the centre of Christchurch, just like in an old British town. This isn’t surprising, since work on the cathedral began only 14 years after the Pakeha (the Maori term for the white settlers) arrived and set up camp in Christchurch. This was 1864—-however, the cathedral didn’t open until 1881. This still makes it one of the older buildings I’ve seen in the southern hemisphere, quite a change from visiting the British Isles!

We didn’t plan to spend a huge amount of time in the cathedral, since we were much more intrigued by the idea of the “best botanic gardens in New Zealand” and the various markets going on around town. Plus, I’ve seen my fair share of cathedrals and minsters in England, so I was out to experience something new and different.

After wandering through the markets outside the cathedral, we decided to at least take a peek inside. As we walked towards the building, which towers over central Christchurch in all its Gothic beauty, we noticed something going on in front of it. We got closer and realized it was a very closely contested chess game between two very odd-looking characters. One was an older man, wearing a tweed jacket and an odd hat, while the other was dressed in brilliant colors and a back-turned hat. Both of them were biting their lips, debating their next move. The largest crowd I had ever seen for a chess game had gathered around them, seemingly riveted by the men’s every twitch.

When we finally tore ourselves away from the excitement, we headed to the cathedral building itself. There were services going on inside, and there was an admission fee (although I can’t remember if it was a “voluntary donation” or not), so we basically peeked inside, admired some of the sculpture around the entrance and the large roofs inside, and then headed to the gift shop (hey, I’d been there, so I had to get a leather bookmark to commemorate it and add to my 400 or so I have already!).

I would recommend at least a quick visit to see the cathedral, since it is what the town is based around and quite possibly where the town’s name originated (the church itself was named “Christ Church” after the college at Oxford University). Plus, if you do go in, you can go on a short climb, at the top of which you can see all of central Christchurch.