The last stop on our Christmas tour of New Zealand was the largest city on the South Island, Christchurch. You might recognize the name because Christchurch made worldwide headlines in 2011 for having a massive earthquake that destroyed about 10,000 structures, two-thirds of the buildings in the central business district and killed 185 people. The rebuilding efforts have been nothing short of amazing and, as such, much of downtown Christchurch is brand new. There is plenty to do both downtown and in the surrounding areas. The South island definitely has an outdoor adventure vibe and many people come down to the South island to do everything from hike to sky dive. Here’s what we did while we were in the area.
Downtown Christchurch
It was raining when we got into Christchurch, but that didn’t stop many people from being out and about. We quickly found a nice table at The Craft Embassy overlooking the Avon River and its punts, which are tourist sight-seeing boats reminiscent of the gondolas in Venice.
Once the rain let up a bit we were able to walk around town and noticed that the streets are filled with art. Murals on the sides of buildings and statues of all kinds are everywhere. I particularly liked this beautiful, blue vase called The Chalice and the penguin mural not far away.
Right down the street from our lunch spot is the Riverside Market, a huge indoor market with stalls of every kind. We ate there twice and I particularly loved the dessert stand with giant chocolate bars. The market is full of every type of Asian cuisine you could want as well as many other types of foods.
On one of our nights in Christchuch we ended up downtown at dinnertime and found The Church Pub, a beautiful converted stone church that still had the original wooden ceiling and an organ covering one wall. There was live music with good food and beer. This might be one of the best ways you can use a church space!
Kiwis, Capybaras, and Eels
If you go on a trip to New Zealand, you want to see a kiwi bird. But, kiwis are quite rare in the wild, protected, and are nocturnal so your chances of seeing one on a hike are basically zero. Instead, you need to go to one of the wonderful exhibits or hatcheries that are working to preserve and protect the kiwis. Willowbank Wildlife Reserve is one such place. On our last trip, we saw baby kiwis at the National Kiwi Hatchery in Rotorua, but the kiwis weren’t super active and always behind glass. At Willowbank, they have a wonderful exhibit where you can see multiple active kiwis running around like cute little flightless bubbles. It was wonderful!
They also have a lot of other amazing creatures, from capybaras to otters to eels. And speaking of eels, you can actually feed their eels, see them up-close, and even touch them if you choose. They have the largest freshwater eel species in the world!
Pohatu Penguins
If you’d rather see animals in the wild, the Christchurch area has got you covered too. One of my life goals has always been to see penguins in the wild. It turns out, New Zealand has three species of tiny penguins that you can see when they arrive home at night to feed their chicks. There are a variety of ways to see them, but we found a really special one. On the Akaroa Peninsula, you can book a tour with Pohatu Penguins to help them with their penguin conservation efforts. They have 250 penguin nesting boxes (which saves the penguins two years of digging a burrow and allows them to start reproducing sooner). You get to go down at dusk, hike out to the nesting boxes and check on the baby penguin chicks and their parents!!
Then, they take you to a blind near the water where you can see the penguins swimming into shore in a group called a raft. We also saw several New Zealand Fur Seals, which was unexpected and made my daughter’s day.
At the end of the night, you’ll head over to the beach to see a few penguins coming up on shore for the night. It was a lovely time, even though the weather was rainy, cold, and fairly miserable that night.
Hanmer Springs
An hour and a half away from Christchurch to the North is the resort town of Hanmer Springs. Here, you can bungy jump, ride jet boats, and do what we did, which is visit the hot springs. Now, visiting hot springs is one of my very favorite things to do. These are no ordinary hot springs, which are typically geared towards adults trying to relax. These springs had a variety of pools with different temperatures that were very, very relaxing. They also had a huge family area, with four water slides, a big open pool, and even a lazy river. In addition, there was a nice lunch and ice cream bar for snack breaks along the way. It was a great location to spend a day for a family like ours.
It was a hot, weekend day when we went and the place was packed with people. In retrospect, it would have been better to go the day before when the temperatures were in the sixties and it was raining. We could have been nice and cozy in the pools with, I suspect, a lot fewer people.
TranzAlpine Railroad & Arthur’s Pass National Park
I wanted to make sure the kids got a chance to see the Southern Alps while we were there. The mountains and Milford Sound are the biggest attractions on the South Island and we found a great way to get into the mountains.
New Zealand runs a scenic train out of Christchurch called the TranzAlpine Railway. It goes through some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. While you can take it all the way to Greymouth on the other side of the island, you can also stop in the mountains at Arthur’s Pass National Park and pick-up the train later that day to return home to Christchurch. You end up spending around 5-6 hours in the park, which is very walkable from the train station. That’s enough time to do a few hiking trails, have lunch at a local cafe, and see the world’s only alpine parrot, the kea, in the wild!
We did the Devil’s Punchbowl walking track, which is only 2 km up a steep path to a beautiful waterfall and back. If you want to go further, you can continue down the trail and even hike up to Arthur’s Pass, which is a passage through the mountains that allows you to go from one side of the island to the other.
Heading Home from Christchurch
After Christchurch, it was time for us to head back home to the United States. In truth, I’m sad we ever came home. New Zealand is such a wonderful place with great people, beautiful scenery, delicious food, and it’s just a delight to be there. If you’re thinking of going to New Zealand and want some help planning your itinerary, I make custom itineraries for people interested in traveling but who might not have the time or inclination to research their chosen location. You can contact me about that here. Otherwise, if you have suggestion for my next trip, comment below!