Christchurch Attractions

Visitors can see a different aspect of Christchurch from a punt on the slow River Avon. Punts can be hired at the visitor center or at the old Antigua Boatsheds in Cambridge Terrace.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is the finest neo-Renaissance church in New Zealand. The cathedral (1901-05), with a high dome over the crossing, was designed by FW Petre and was much admired by George Bernard Shaw.

Northeast of the Provincial Council Buildings, in Victoria Square, is the eye-catching modern town hall (1972). This attractive and imposing building was designed by the Christchurch architects Warren and Mahoney. Within the complex are an auditorium seating 2000 and a restaurant.

Further south is the Bridge of Remembrance, built in 1923 as a memorial to the New Zealanders who fell in the first world war.

The gallery specializes in modern art. There is a showroom with works for sale.
In 1996 the name was changed from Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery to The Centre of Contemporary Art.

Christ's College, to the north of the Canterbury Museum, was established soon after the foundation of Christchurch as a boys' secondary school in the tradition of the British grammar school. The earliest buildings date from 1857. The Big School (1863), designed by Superintendent FitzGerald, is the oldest school building still in use in New Zealand. The New Classrooms (1886) were designed by Benjamin Mountfort, the Dining Hall on the street front, the Hare Library with the clock and Jacob's House (1915-25) by Cecil Wood.

In Latimer Square, to the east of the cathedral, is the Christchurch Club (by Benjamin Mountfort, 1861), an imposing wooden building in Italian Renaissance style. This was the meeting place of the wool barons and owners of the great sheep farms. The writer Samuel Butler was also a member, though he complained that his fellow-members could talk of nothing but money and sheep.

The Christchurch Gondola takes passengers 500 metres above sea level. From the top there is a 360° view over Pegasus Bay and the Pacific Ocean to Kaikoura and across the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps.

Christchurch International Airport is located 12 km (7.2 miles) from the city center. It is the primary airport on the South Island, offering a range of domestic and international flights.

Northwest of Hagley Park, on the banks of the Avon, is the mansion of Mona Vale (1905), set in a 4ha park planted with mature trees.
The housed is leased as a restaurant and function center.

The Edwardian-style Regent Theatre was built in 1905 as the Royal Exchange Building. It was converted into a cinema in 1930.

In Lancaster Park is the Rugby, Cricket and Sport Museum.

Opposite the visitor center is a memorial honoring Robert Falcon Scott, who set out from Christchurch in 1912 on the expedition that took him to the South Pole after Roald Amundsen, and to his death on the return journey. The memorial, erected in 1917, was the work of his widow Kathleen (Lady Kennett), a sculptor.

To the west of the cathedral, is the church of St Michael and All Angels (by WF Crisp, 1872), the oldest surviving Anglican wooden church. It has a beautiful interior and fine stained glass. The free-standing bell tower (1861) was designed by Benjamin Mountfort.

The Edwardian-style Theatre Royal in nearby Gloucester Street was built in 1908 to the design of the Luttrell brothers. It has a very handsome auditorium.

Behind the cathedral is the State Trinity Centre, originally a church (by Benjamin Mountfort, 1874) and now used for lectures and meetings.

Northwest of the Town Hall is a clock tower that was originally intended for the Provincial Council Buildings but turned out to be too heavy for their roof. It was moved to its present site on a massive stone plinth in 1930.

In Victoria Square are a green-patinated bronze statue of Queen Victoria (1903) and another of Captain Cook (1932).

Beyond the visitor center is the Women Memorial, the city's newest bronze memorial, erected in 1993 on the 100th anniversary of the confirmation of women's right to vote.

This new marae (assembly place) in the eastern suburb of Aranui is not meant only for Maoris.

Of particular note are the carved entrance gateway and the meeting house, in modern style, with carvings in the tradition of various tribes.

From the end of Tunnel Road the Mount Cavendish Gondola, a cableway, runs up to the summit of Mount Cavendish, on which there are viewing terraces and a restaurant. There are breathtaking panoramas of the city, the coast and the wide plain extending to the Southern Alps.

To the southwest of Christchurch, on the old Wigram airfield (9km west of the city center), is the Museum of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, with a number of old military aircraft, aeronautical apparatus and flying equipment. There are also showings of war films.

The steep Bridle Path followed by the early settlers runs over the hills from Lyttleton Harbour to Christchurch.

At Mount Pleasant is Ferrymead Historic Park, an open-air museum with a reconstruction of a pioneer settlement, an old tram and a stretch of old railroad line on which the first train in New Zealand ran in 1863.

The International Antarctic Centre offers a fun, exciting and hands-on experience for the whole family to enjoy. Exhibits include the indoor Snow & Ice Experience, New Zealand's first combined indoor/outdoor penguin viewing area, known as the Penguin Encounter, featuring Little Blue penguins as well as an outdoor adventure ride in the Hagglund, a genuine Antarctic all-terrain vehicle.

The house (1907) in the Cashmere district once occupied by Ngaio Marsh, the well-known author of detective stories, actress and theater director, is now a museum.

Near the airport is the Orana Park Wildlife Reserve, Christchurch's zoo, with open-air enclosures reproducing natural conditions and a much-visited nocturnal house for kiwis.

Queen Elizabeth II Park is a large park to the northeast of the city with facilities for various sports was laid out for the 1974 Commonwealth Games. Particular attractions are the giant water slide and a large maze.

At Red Cliffs, near Monck's Bay, is a cave in which Julius von Haast found large numbers of moa bones in 1872.

Some distance west of Hagley Park is Riccarton House (1856), the former residence of the Dean family, in a park that has been left in its natural state. The family was settled here before the arrival of the Canterbury pilgrims. The little cottage that they built in 1843 is open to the public as a museum.

The Sign of Kiwi is a roadhouse on the Summit Road built on the initiative of Harry Ell.

In the Cashmere district is the Sign of Takahe. This house, with the aspect of a small castle, was built for Harry Ell, a local politician who was active in the campaign for the preservation of the Port Hills between Christchurch and Lyttleton. Only half-finished when he died in 1934, it was completed by the city in 1949 and is now a restaurant. From the hills there are fine views.

This magnificently carved Maori meeting house (1906) stands on the Rehua marae (assembly place) in Springfield Road.

Beyond the airport is Tiptree Cottage (1864), a three-story building of wood and cob (a mixture of clay and chopped straw) that is open to the public as a museum.

12km west of the city center is the Yaldhurst Transport Museum, with a collection of veteran and vintage cars.
The Museum complex is set in the grounds of an early colonial homestead, originally built in 1876.