Christchurch-Canterbury, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Kaikoura Whale Watching
Sep 4, 2004 (14 photos)

In July we headed down to Kaikoura for a weekend away and to get out on the whale watching boat. We caught the Bluebridge ferry from Wellington to Picton at the very sociable hour of 3am and tried to convince ourselves that the humming and vibrating of ...

A whale's tail
Dec 22, 2006 (14 photos)

The summer holidays had arrived. With a spring in my step I boarded the Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Christchurch. I gazed out of the plane window at the velvety blue sea, the warm and shining arc of Golden Bay, the long tongue of sand ...

Dusky Dolphins
Nov 10, 2005 (11 photos)

... , so after a scenic 2 hour drive, we stopped at Hanmer Springs. Thankfully Stu had forgotten to bring his 'trunks' to New Zealand, so he'd bought some altogether more fashionable swim shorts the previous day. We paid just $10 each and proceeded to have ...

Around the South
Apr 9, 2005 (9 photos)

... ", how could I not stop? I saved two trees myself. It's interesting that in Australia the possum is endangered while in New Zealand they're trying to wipe them out completely. The possum is extremely harmful for the native forest and I wouldn't mind ...

Walking up Mt John
Dec 15, 2005 (6 photos)

... , so we got a great view of the 5000 sheep who were in the middle of the road, near Lake Pukaki. Jens was going to Christchurch, whereas I was just travelling an hour up the road to Lake Tekapo. On arrival, we said goodbye and I made my way to the YHA, ...

Back to New Zealand!
Aug 22, 2005

... back pack and the locals! I had an hour to kill so I spent the last of my change on sweets, converted my notes back to New Zealand Dollars, and read a free magazine I'd picked up on the way out of the hostel. Not only did this magazine have an article on ...

A very Kiwi Christmas
Dec 25, 2006 (6 photos)

... started, which provided motivation to get back to the mussels. The next day we explored the city a little more. Christchurch has a very English feel, with stone buildings, a Victorian Gothic cathedral, quaint little bridges over the River Avon, and ...

Akaroa, South Island
Dec 22, 2004 (2 photos)

Akaroa is located on the Banks Peninsula and is themed like a small village in France. Those who found it were French. It is really picturesque with restaurants all the way along the waterfront and palm trees on the beaches. The main thing to do in ...

Finishing work...prematurely!
Aug 8, 2005

... a day early. No problem. I have a lot of stuff to sort out before Melbourne anyway, so the extra day in Christchurch will be useful. I certainly don't want to spend much money there, but I can organise accommodation, transport and activities for my trip ...

Kaikoura Part 1
May 1, 2005 (10 photos)

Kaikoura We left Christchurch at 8am and had a long drive to Kaikoura arriving early afternoon. A combination of the Pacific Ocean, deep trenches and underwater canyons up to 3 KM in depth that are only a few Km's away from the shore and a marine ...

Just Landed
Apr 13, 2007

... nearly have it's own entry (have to build up those dots on the map) As you know we left Australia on Friday for New Zealand. The flight into New Zealand was unbelievable! There were so many mountain ranges, rivers and we even flew over Fox Glacier. ...

Whale Watching in Kaikoura
May 12, 2008 (23 photos)

Another day and with it brought the anticipation of seeing whales! Now as we are well and truly running out of diverse descriptive words to emphasise what we are seeing...... we are just going to list a whole load here and you can assign them yourself; it ...

Christchurch - last stop in the South
Dec 28, 2004 (4 photos)

Christchurch - the final stop on our South Island trip! Chrischurch was actually a lot nicer than expected with real nice city square, river and botanic gardens. The weather was good and hot so we did a punt down the river (how romantic) and also kayaked ...

The South Island -The end of brilliant New Zealand
Aug 17, 2006 (35 photos)

... (green stone), but we didn't find any! So after two nights in Barrytown, we moved onto Franz Joseph, situated in New Zealand's Southern Alps, where there is a Glacier that descends deep into the lush rainforest of Westland National Park. The Franz Josef ...

Kaikoura Part 2
May 1, 2005 (5 photos)

... plane in the hanger (by pushing it there) and I was given my certificate and driven back to town. I really want to do this again. My new path in life to be a pilot. I had a great day to day again a lot of firsts. Tomorrow I head back to the North Island ...

Organising...and a little bit of socialising!
Aug 11, 2005

I stayed in a different hostel on this visit to Christchurch, as I wasn't overly impressed with Foley Towers last time. The Old Countryhouse was a bit further away from the city centre, but it was a spotless place...and I had a dorm to myself for the first ...

Note to oneself... must come back here one day....
Jan 15, 2009

...  Cook Islands.  However, flying over the south island did make us envious of those who have managed to get to New Zealand and we will definitely come back here for another holiday one day.   Absolutely stunning country from the air! ...

Penguins and Leprechauns in Christchurch
Apr 24, 2005 (4 photos)

... the end they even got dressed up like the Village People and did a song and dance to "in the Navy" so funny. I liked Christchurch; it's very quaint. My biggest find there was the Antarctic shop-full of penguin stuff. When I walked in my eyes were in 10 ...

Archbishop Averill?
Sep 4, 2004 (4 photos)

... a Scenic Circles Hotel in Franz Josef. Don't think I really want that isolation. Now, I wasn't planning on updating in Christchurch again, but I was walking around today and I decided I'd check out the Cathedral. As I'm walking, I find carved inside ...

Its CHRISTMAS
Dec 25, 2006 (42 photos)

Oh my god christmas is finally upon us!! Thanks to everyone who sent emails, ecards and txt messages - we love you all millions and millions xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Well I guess you could say that we haven't been fellin too christmassy until ...

And All Because The Lady Loves Mount Hutt
Sep 12, 2004 (7 photos)

... the inviting (yet forbidding) looking snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps. En-route (not more French?!?) we crossed New Zealand's longest bridge, a feat we were looking forward to accomplishing but in reality it also made the Guinness Book of ...

As English as putting Mayo on your chips
Sep 12, 2004 (6 photos)

... around the chilly South Island we were given extra duvets, blankets, pillows and a set of snow chains before heading towards Christchurch city centre with a stop-off at a local supermarket for a stock-up. We found a really nice campervan park five ...

Unchained Medley
Sep 14, 2004 (10 photos)

... of a bronze statue of a sheep dog. After half an hour we came across another large lake called Pukaki whose waters reflect New Zealand's highest mountain, Mount Cook on a clear day, but today there would be no such view as a thick mist covered most of ...

EnZed
Nov 1, 2003 (2 photos)

... and found somewhere to camp as it was getting late. Wednesday 29th October Today we took a drive out to Lyttleton Harbour which is Christchurch's Port Town. It was a bit of a dingy day today so we had a bit of a wander and then a drive along the ...

Cairns to Christchurch
Apr 18, 2008

To be kept as draft so that christchurch is marker on map

its the weekend again
Dec 17, 2006

Its the weekend already; George n Jazz have to work, Ben gets on with the garden and I try to get some writing done which is going not too well I guess. Tormorrow i will paint the house, get sunburnt on my back and ben will continue withthe garden. ...

Hamner to KaiKoura
Jul 29, 2005 (3 photos)

... and moved to KaiKoura, booking a trip to see the sperm whales in the morning, and we then went to the seal sanctuary. Lots of New Zealand fur seals were around, lazing about in the sun and trying to dry off. We met a couple of people from scotland there ...

On the road again
Apr 14, 2007 (2 photos)

... to spend the night in Peel Forest. This was a nice enough wee sight and we met a wee couple from Ireland who were just finishing their New Zealand trip and they gave us a few pointers to help us with our journey. (note to Phil & Julie - they were in a ...

Back in the West, culture shock again
Feb 27, 2007

... thoughts since returning to the west.  First of all, I just realized the other day that SHIT I am now a resident of New Zealand, somehow i never considered that before.  I have a bank account, a tax ID number, I'm registered with the government, ...

More internet in Christchurch!
May 5, 2006

... got shuttle bus to Base Backpackers which was ok. Are picking up our campervan in a bit - home for the next 5 weeks! Christchurch seems like a nice city bit bigger than imagined and all pretty low level. Had a wander around Cathedral Square and the ...