This was published 15 years ago
24 hours in Christchurch
Despite the similarities to the old country, Christchurch has plenty of points of difference, Andrew Bain discovers.
Christchurch has long been dubbed England in miniature. In this New Zealand city founded by Anglicans and Anglophiles, you can punt on the Avon River, make telephone calls from red phone boxes and admire the Gothic cathedral that gives the city its Oxford-inspired name.
Look beyond the likenesses, however, and there's a unique personality to this city with its spectacular backdrop of mountains. Spending a day in Christchurch is a punt worth taking.
9am
Christchurch began with the cathedral and so should your day. The most visited church in New Zealand, it looks distinctly English, though it's styled with local touches, such as the ceiling of totara and matai wood and a Maori version of the Lord's Prayer inscribed on one wall.
Climb the 134 steps to the top of the steeple for a view across Christchurch, with Cathedral Square and the Millennium Chalice, looking like a rolled-up newspaper, most prominent.
11am
With its curving, metal-framed glass facade representative of the Avon River's meandering course, the Christchurch Art Gallery is a striking piece of modernity in a city of conservative design.
On the ground floor are the touring exhibitions, set around a large chunk of greenstone donated by a Maori tribe to anchor the spirituality of the place (rubbing the stone is encouraged). The permanent collections are on the first floor.
Christchurch Art Gallery, corner Worcester Boulevard and Montreal Street; tel: +64 3 941 7300; christchurchartgallery.org.nz
12.30pm
The section of Oxford Terrace between Hereford and Cashel streets is more simply known as "the Strip", containing the city's greatest concentration of restaurants (and nightlife).
Among the half-dozen restaurants just a few steps from the Avon River is Viaduct, with pseudo-Roman design and local touches of food plucked from both the sea (beer-battered blue cod) and the Canterbury Plain (rack of lamb).
Viaduct, 136 Oxford Terrace; tel +64 3 3779 968
1.30pm
It's tempting to sleep off lunch on an Avon punt, kicking back as a man in a straw boater and braces guides you through the ducks, but you'll find it more satisfying to walk off lunch in Riccarton Bush.
Three kilometres west of the city centre, this natural beauty spot is the sole remnant of the kahikatea forest that once covered the entire Canterbury plain. The kahikatea is New Zealand's tallest native tree, and a 30-minute loop track winds through the 12-hectare primeval forest, where suddenly there's birdsong, not traffic noise; leaf litter, not city rubbish.
3pm
Christchurch's great museum boasts are the Canterbury Museum and the International Antarctic Centre, but if you like a place that's part bric-a-brac and part historical treasure, the Lyttelton Museum is a more curious find. Set on the shore of the port suburb of Lyttelton, once the final stop before the Antarctic for explorers, it's a delightfully haphazard place, a little like poking about in your grandparents' garage. Beyond the life preservers and the basket made from the skin of an armadillo is the Antarctic Gallery where you can view Ernest Shackleton's sledge, the head of one of Robert Scott's dogs and photos of both explorers' crews in Lyttelton.
Lyttelton Museum, Norwich Quay, Lyttelton; open 2pm-4pm Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends.
5pm
The grassed Port Hills are Christchurch's playground. The most scenic way to ascend the hills is on the gondola, climbing about 500 metres to a view over the city, watching as the sun falls towards the corrugated skyline of the Southern Alps. The easy way back down is on the gondola, but if you want to do it in true Port Hills style you can hire a bike and either ride the roads back into Christchurch or follow the web of mountain bike trails that plunge off the rock-tipped hills.
The Mountain Bike Adventure Company; tel +64 3 339 4020; cyclehire-tours.co.nz
8pm
Having worked up an appetite, it's time to fill your thighs with more than lactic acid. Dux de Lux, set on one corner of the arts centre, is a Christchurch institution and the unusual combination of boutique brewery and vegetarian restaurant. The menu is global - spanakopita, gado gado, quesadillas - and the Dux-brewed beer strong. Stick around and you can wear the evening out at the Dux, which is also one of the city's hottest nightspots. Three bars and a revolving roster of local bands offer a diverse selection of music, from reggae to punk to jazz to Pacific sounds, or if you fancy moving on, you can stay smooth at the Southern Blues Bar or experience the Strip in its after-dark guise.
Dux de Lux, corner Hereford & Montreal streets; tel +64 3 366 6919; thedux.co.nz
Southern Blues Bar, 198 Madras Street; tel +64 3 365 1654
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