Capital of the Canterbury region and
the largest city on the South
Island,
CHRISTCHURCH
(population 300,000) exudes a
palpable air of gentility and a
connectedness with the mother
country. After all, it was perceived
as an outpost of Anglicanism by its
first settlers, was named after an
Oxford college, and has some of the
feel of a traditional English
university town, with its neo-Gothic
architecture and gently winding
river. To some degree it pursues an
archetype - the boys at Christ's
College still wear striped blazers,
and punts course along the Avon -
but the Englishness is largely skin
deep. Modern Christchurch is a
lively melting pot of cultures, with
a continental café scene and a
distinct, ever-changing Kiwi
identity of its own. Indeed, those
who regard Christchurch as a quiet
place in which to sleep off jet lag
or take a break from the long
journey across the South Island will
be pleasantly surprised by the
city's contemporary face. In recent
years its traditional conservatism
has gained a more youthful, bohemian
edge, with an explosion of lively
bars
and restaurants , the emergence
of underground
nightlife ,
and a burgeoning of the visual arts,
theatre, music and street
entertainment. Such urban pursuits
are nicely balanced by the Pacific
Ocean suburbs of New Brighton and
Sumner, both of which boast
excellent
beaches.
Straddling the main road and rail
routes running down the east coast,
Christchurch is used by many
tourists as a base from which to
explore the South Island, with the
steep, angular terrain of Banks
Peninsula and the vineyards
of the Canterbury Plains proving the
most popular out-of-town
destinations. Many of the outdoor
activities for which New Zealand
is famous are accessible from here,
with a plethora of city-based
companies offering trips involving
rafting, paragliding, ballooning and
mountain biking in the surrounding
countryside
. The city is also within a two-hour
drive of several good skifields
to the west
, making it possible to combine a
day on the pistes with an evening in
Christchurch's numerous nocturnal
watering holes. Indeed the place's
only real drawback is its cost:
compared with the rest of the South
Island, Christchurch is an expensive
place to spend any length of time.
The City
The city centre, together with many
of its more compelling sights, is
encased within the Four Avenues of
Moorhouse, Fitzgerald, Bealey and
Deans. They define a useful border
round the downtown area, in the very
centre of which is ...
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