Christchurch is known as the ‘garden city’ of New Zealand and for good reason; at its heart is the lovely Hagley Park and Botanical Gardens, a wonderful space full of majestic trees, lawns and flowers through which runs the small Avon River. The Christchurch Beautification Society (yes, really) works to enhance the attractiveness of the city including planting 1000s of bulbs in the park, regenerating an island that used to be the site of an old flour mill and sponsoring floating islands of flowers on the river amongst other not doubt equally worthy projects. There is a curously dated Englishness about Christchurch not least due to it’s Gothic stone buildings including the magnificent cathedral which dominates the city centre, historic weatherboard houses with their verandahs and delicate iron fretwork, the English-inspired street names, Cambridge punts complete with punters in straw boaters and blazers and old-fashioned trams providing tours of the city. This is a calm city – no hustle bustle here. As will the rest of New Zealand there is hardly any traffic giving it an eerily quiet almost deserted feel . We spend most of the day doing a walking tour courtesy of Lonely Planet taking in Cathedral Square, the river Avon which winds its way around the city centre, the high street and the fashionable drinking areas.
Thomas’ Hotel on Hereford is few minutes walk from Hagley Park in one direction and Remembrance Bridge and the centre of the city centre in the other. We are opposite the Arts Centre housed in a rather nice gothic stone building, which on further investigation turns out to been converted into an artsy-crafty shopping complex aimed at tourists, and a very popular micro-brewery. The location couldn’t be better.
Word of the day: trundler = supermarket trolley