Your flight to Christchurch brings you to New Zealand’s awe-inspiring South Island, although the city was founded barely 150 years ago. Revel in Christchurch’s atmosphere of bygone England and Gothic revival style epitomised by Christ Church Cathedral, with its 63m spire, built between 1858 and 1904.
Step back in time to explore the Cathedral-centric street grid, always planned as Anglicanism’s southernmost outpost, while indigenous Maori heritage is the focus of Nga Hau E Wha (National Marae). The living culture of Christchurch is cosmopolitan and best viewed from the city’s historic trams or, more panoramically, from Christchurch Gondola.
Find a city retreat by punting down the willow-lined River Avon, or discover Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Further afield, take the TranzAlpine Express on its daily traversal of the spine of the South Island, the Southern Alps, via spectacular Arthur’s Pass.
Locals in Christchurch love their wine as the ideal complement to tasty beef and lamb; although the first vines were planted in 1840, commercial enterprises only followed in 1978, yet now Christchurch’s region produces ten per cent of New Zealand’s wine. For the beer drinker, Canterbury Brewery makes Lion beers: join locals imbibing after guided tours around the brewery. |