Why spring is the perfect time to visit Christchurch
Like me, you can enjoy a three-course dinner of local prawns, freshly caught salmon and apple crumble, washed down with champagne and views sprawling hills. This is the perfect season for the South Island.
“It’s not usually this perfect,” says our host Chris with a rueful grin as we cycle around Hagley Park, green centrepiece of the NZ South Island city of Christchurch. It’s an idyllic spring morning, the air is crisp, the sky cloudless and the gardens and woodlands dotted around the urban park are bursting with early blooms.
It’s been a while since I hopped on a bike, but with mostly flat terrain and plenty of encouragement from Chill Urban cycling guide Clare, it’s not long before I’m zipping around the city. Since falling in love with sightseeing by bike during a holiday in Paris, Clare has been showing visitors around Christchurch on two wheels for more than 14 years, and her knowledge of the city’s geography is almost encyclopaedic. She also knows the power of a good first impression.
No.1 on our list is North Harper Ave, Hagley Park and its famous cherry-blossom allée. We’re showered in white petal confetti like newlyweds as we pedal beneath boughs of the blossoming trees, dodging skyward-gazing tourists and morning commuters on the busy pathways.
There’s an equally impressive botanical display at ground level, too, thanks to the innumerable daffodil plantings that dot the city. Springtime is their big moment, too, and while you’ll see visual symphonies of yellow trumpets rising from almost every city garden bed at this time of year, the woodlands around Christchurch Hospital are best to appreciate the full crescendo. Their prolific presence is no accident, but rather the work of Christchurch Botanic Gardens’ first NZ curator, James A McPherson. He planted more than half a million daffodil bulbs in the woodlands during the 1930s, transforming the area into one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks.
These happy yellow flowers, considered a symbol of hope in some cultures, are fitting mascots for Christchurch and its resilient residents. Still rebuilding after earthquakes in 2010/11 reduced much of its skyline to rubble and resulted in 185 deaths, the city was dealt another blow in 2019 when 51 residents were killed and dozens injured in a shooting attack at two mosques. Almost three years of nationwide Covid lockdowns followed.
But Canterbury folk are remarkably resilient, and Chris says residents are excited to finally showcase their “new” city. “So many buildings were damaged and had to be demolished, and now there’s a height limit for construction,” he explains. The city still bears scars of the natural disaster, and we pass a few buildings in the midst of repair as well as others languishing behind temporary fencing awaiting their fate.
For all the devastation, Chris points out that the event created the chance to design a city that would factor in the modern lifestyles of its citizens. The open green spaces are now complemented by pedestrian and cyclist-friendly paths and while some of the public projects proposed as part of the reconstruction plan are still in progress, a punt along the city’s famous Avon River is the perfect way to witness the newest additions to the ever-changing cityscape, including the ultra-modern Te Pae Convention Centre, opened in 2021.
The tiled facade of the $NZ450 million ($417m) construction was designed to represent the braided rivers that flow from the Southern Alps onto the Canterbury Plain. This glacial mountain river system, formed over millions of years by moving and eroding glaciers, is one of the region’s most unique natural wonders and is best appreciated from the air.
Pilot Terry Murdoch has flown countless visitors over its crisscrossing streams in the past three decades, showcasing the broad, flat Canterbury Plains, stretching from their origins in the dramatic Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean.
Aboard one of Christchurch Helicopters’ six-seater choppers, we track east towards the Canterbury coastline and it’s an incredible sight to witness these milky waters bleed out into the deep blue ocean and skirt the dramatic, coastal protuberances of the nearby Banks Peninsula. The black sands of the eroded volcanic complex, located just south of the river mouth, create an inky line between land and sea and we follow it south before arriving at Annandale, a luxury accommodation offering set on more than 1500ha of coastal farmland.
It’s possible to reach by car, but flying into Scrubby Bay at dusk adds much more drama. Flanked by towering hills and a rockybeach, Annandale’s selection of five accommodation options, all completely different, make for the ultimate hideaway.
The whole experience is very Agent 007, so much so that I have to stop myself from requesting a martini (shaken, not stirred) from host Helen as she greets us with glasses of Champagne and caviar-spiked canapes. After a three-course dinner of local prawns, freshly caught salmon and apple crumble, the staff departs, leaving our group to enjoy a plate of cheese and appreciate the sounds of crashing waves and swishing tussock grass.
For couples, the ultra-modern one-bedroom Seascape, designed by acclaimed architect Andrew Patterson and offering panoramic views of one of the property’s most secluded bays, is the perfect choice and much favoured by visiting Holly-wood celebrities, of whom Annandale has had plenty.The likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Natalie Portman have reportedly stayed in recent years, but Helen is reticent about divulging other famous names as she drives us along the winding, private road to the main homestead.
But she’s happy to stop regularly along the coastal road so we can take in the sights of Pigeon Bay before we leave. I scan the inlets in the hope of catching sight of one of the world’s rarest marine mammals, the Hector’s dolphin. The endangered species is unique to this part of the world, but today there’s no sign of the tiny cetaceans.
There is, however, quite the show taking place on Annandale’s steep hillsides. Much like the fields of daffodils that brighten Christchurch, the sprawling paddocks are dotted with tumbling, frolicking lambs, a timely symbol of rebirth and a fitting farewell to this beautiful region.
In the know
Emirates offers a daily A380 service from Sydney to Christchurch; business class fares from $1922 return.
Annandale’s Scrubby Bay Villa accommodates 10; from $NZ7595 ($6,996) a night.
Seascape, from $NZ4785; sleeps two. Both have a minimumtwo-night stay.
Christchurch Helicopters operates out of Christchurch International Airport, offering transfers and scenic tours of the Canterbury region. Tours from $NZ350 a person.
Chill operates a range of 2½-hour guided cycling tours of Christchurch from Monday to Saturday (Sundays by appointment); includes bike hire and helmet; $NZ125 a person.
Elle Halliwell was a guest of Emirates and Tourism New Zealand.
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