Avon River
by fishandchips
Christchurch has two rivers that go through it with the Avon wandering through its heart. On a sunny day it is fantastic to sit on either the grass or one of many seats and take some time out. There are some nice places in the middle of town plus some beautiful spots to kills some time and built some positive karma in the Botanic Gardens at the end of Wordester Boulevard. The Avon winds its way through town (you follow the river during the Christchurch Marathon) and out past New Brighton to finish in the Estuary near Ferrymead.
BTW, the other river is the Heathcoteand this one, unfortunately, goes through part of the industrial area in Bamford/Woolston so it's rather nasty by the time it gets to the Estuary.
The Nuisance of Graffiti & Tagging
by Kakapo2
Nothing upsets the people of Christchurch more than graffiti, also called tagging. You can read letters to the editor about it in the Press on a nearly daily basis. And wherever you look in the city centre you will spot spraypainted walls, fences, power boxes, and street signs. Just a week or two ago some people of Christchurch’s most affluent suburb of Fendalton were surprised that a tagger had sprayed their fences, and wondered how the taggers dare to not respect their million dollar homes LOL As if only poorer people were allowed to become victims of crime!
There are endless discussions about selling spraycans only to people who are willing to get registered, like buying drugs in the pharmacies.
Perhaps the discussion would not be so fierce, were the graffiti artistic and spectacular. But unfortunately Christchurch seems to only have untalented sprayers who are not interested in anything but damaging other people’s properties, and public places. Many tags are not even readable. So which sense does tagging make if there is no message in it?
It costs Christchurch more than NZ$ 1 million per year to get rid of the graffiti – and just days after the clean-ups new graffiti appear on the walls and fences. Senseless lives, like those of the car hoons.
As taggers want their work of destruction be displayed I restrain from posting a photo of it. Instead see another kind of destruction that happens in the city on a regular base. And LOL … Some taggers are silly enough to post their graffiti on the internet, and they can be recognised easily, so the police can investigate and charge them.
Update 29 Jan 2008
Isn't it crazy that just the other day a 50 year-old business man in Manukau City stabbed a tagger to death? I do not excuse this, of course not - but it shows how fed up the people are with tagging.
St. Michael's Belfry
by Kakapo2
The fact that the belfry is sitting some metres apart from the church gives St. Michael’s a picturesque look. It was erected in 1861, and designed by Canterbury’s leading architect Benjamin W. Mountfort who later designed the Provincial Chambers and a number of the windows in the church.
The bell the belfry houses was brought out with the settlers on the First Four Ships (see history of Lyttelton). It was the new settlement’s first timepiece, and was rung every hour of daylight.
You will find reminders of those early days inside the church. When you step in via the parish office, you will see large wooden commemorative plates of the First Four Ships – Randolph, Charlotte Jane, Sir George Seymore and Cressy.
In its early days, St. Michael was the place to go, favoured by the inhabitants of some of the city’s grander houses. After 1910, it became famous – others say: infamous - as a centre of Catholic spirituality within the Anglican Church of New Zealand and Polynesia.
The first church – the one you see now is the third one on this site – was a makeshift schoolroom-cum-church, a very usual combination in those days, and so small that people always risked to hit their heads on beams.
Directions
From the Bridge of Remembrance just walk along the Avon on Oxford Terrace (to the south, away from Cathedral Square/City Mall), you have to cross one traffic light and then will already see the landmark white wooden church on your right.
Address: Oxford Terrace
Phone (03) 379 5236 (parish office)
Phone vicarage 351 5039
Save the GST
by knerten about Ballantynes
Ballantynes is a fairly big department store on Cashel St. in the city centre. The nice things is that they offer no GST (sales tax) on all your purchases, if you're overseas and flying out of Christchurch, simply buy and then pick up your items at the airport when you leave. 12.5% off isn't that bad. Mind you, Ballantynes is slightly more expensive than other stores, but without the GST you will still be saving money buying here, rather than at the souvenir stores elsewhere. Woolen clothes, esp. with possum fibres.
Christchurch has an...
by stoner
Christchurch has an International and domestic airport facilities so no problems there!! Alternatives are bus or train, or if your into it, sometimes even cruise ships??
Generally, if your going to be a couple of days in Christchurch...grab a shuttle bus to a central city backpackers...that way everything is in walking distance. Generally the shuttle buses will be around $10-$15 NZD for a single, less if there's more...alternatively if there's 3 or more people it will be cheaper to just grab a taxi!
If your gonna be in Christchurch a while, possibly look at getting a rental car...there are some reasonable companies where you can pick up a 1.3l 4 door vehicle for around $45.00 a day...still be careful of some of the companies tho!!
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Castle Rock
Antarctic experience
roads clear and smooth
Fairy-tale-like courtyard.
