Canterbury, New Zealand

Canterbury highlights

Ōtautahi Christchurch Food
Margaret Mahy Playground
Transitional Cathedral
Lake Tekapo
Lake Pukaki
Aoraki (Mount Cook)
Hooker Valley Track
Star Gazing

Why visit Canterbury?

For Ōtautahi Christchurch - a revitalised city with a vibrant food scene and amazing playground. And for stunning landscapes, star gazing, hiking, and Aotearoa’s highest mountain.

Getting there and around

We hired a small SUV car from Apex for 28 days at a cost of £55 per day which included car seats, unlimited mileage, zero excess and roadside assistance.

From Kaiteriteri we drove 4 hours to Hanmer Springs via the Maruia Falls. The next morning we continued on to Ōtautahi Christchurch (1.5 hours).

After 2 nights in Ōtautahi Christchurch we drove for 4 hours to Aoraki. We stopped en route a couple of times, including at Lake Tekapo for lunch and enjoyed the gorgeous views along the way. We also saw a couple of lush vintage cars along the way and asked if we could photograph them!

Accommodation

Ōtautahi Christchurch

We stayed at Rydges Latimer hotel for 2 nights in a large and modern room with 2 king sized beds. We paid £230 per night with breakfast.

The hotel was located just 5 minutes walk from the city centre. The hotel had free wi-fi and parking. It also had a laundry (the washing machines and driers cost about £1.50 per load).

Our star rating: 4

Our cost rating: 3

Rydges Latimer Christchurch

Aoraki

We booked a superior room at the Hermitage Hotel at a cost of £315 for 1 night, with a special rate that included breakfast and dinner. When we arrived we were told we had been upgraded to a beautiful top floor premium room!

Dinner was a buffet with a good selection. Breakfast was excellent with cooked and continental options, including some more unusual offerings like decent bircher muesli and smoothies. We were impressed with the quality of the meals and it made the room rate feel like value for money.

The hotel was located at the foot of Aoraki with glorious views both from our room and from the communal parts, with lots of large windows. Even the lifts were glass. It had a small grocery shop, gift shop, cafe, bar and restaurant. All of the staff were friendly and helpful.

We were worried this hotel would rely on its location and under deliver in terms of rooms and meals, but it far exceeded our expectations and felt like good value for money for the quality experience we received. Our only slight gripe was the slow wi-fi; but given how remote the hotel is, this was understandable.

Our star rating: 5

Our cost rating: 5

The Hermitage Hotel

Ōtautahi Christchurch Food

After arriving and checking in to our hotel in Christchurch we headed off to explore the city. The Riverside Market is an indoor food market with a great selection of fresh locally grown produce and street food stalls. It was really busy when we visited on a Thursday lunchtime and felt like a lively and vibrant place to be.

The food offering was so enticing it was really hard to choose between all the stalls. In the end we ordered curries from Dosa Kitchen; veggie Indonesian food from Indo Tempeh House; and noodle soup from Hanoi Alley.

The following day we visited the Little High Eatery food court, this time in the evening for supper. Little High Eatery was smaller than the Riverside but it was buzzing and had a good selection of cuisines. This time we got food to share from one stall. Between us we had tofu rice, crispy pork, and vegan dumplings.

Sometimes we find it tricky when travelling to feed the kids healthy food when they want to eat it, on a budget. However, we found this to be relatively easy and affordable in Aotearoa.

Having a car and staying in holiday parks or Airbnbs with kitchens meant that we could buy ingredients and cook healthy kid friendly meals, and this was cheaper than eating out all the time.

And even in hotel rooms where we didn’t have a kitchen, we usually had a mini fridge and could easily rustle up snacks and light lunches with our camping bowls and cutlery sets.

When we did want to eat out, we found that Aotearoa’s cities had a great food scene and even small towns have reasonably priced quality restaurants with kids’ menus and vegetarian options.

Margaret Mahy Playground

Our hotel was located just 5 minutes walk from this huge playground. It was built as part of the city’s recovery plan following the 2011 earthquake and is the largest in the southern hemisphere.

It had a scooter/bike track, water play area, tall towers with tunnel slides, climbing walls, zip lines, loads of swings, climbing frames and lots of other pieces of play equipment.

All of the playgrounds we visited in Aotearoa were were fantastic, with brand new, well maintained, and challenging equipment; and we felt that the playgrounds back home in Sheffield are sadly pretty limited and poorly maintained in comparison.

Transitional Cathedral

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designed a temporary church in Kobe following the earthquake there in 1995. When Ōtautahi Christchurch’s cathedral was badly damaged by the earthquake in 2011 Ban was approached to design a temporary cathedral.

Ōtautahi Christchurch’s transitional cathedral is constructed with cardboard tubes, timber and steel. The foundation is concrete, the roof is polycarbonate and shipping containers form the walls. Inside it felt light and calm.

Lake Tekapo

On the way to Aoraki (Mount Cook) from Christchurch we stopped at Lake Tekapo for lunch and to stretch our legs and take a break from the car.

When the lake suddenly came into view as we rounded a corner we gave a collective gasp in wonder.

Lake Tekapo was one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. The alpine lake water was sparkling blue. Some lupins were still flowering and when they are all in full bloom they must look spectacular.

Lunch was at the Greedy Cow cafe where we had delicious and very reasonably priced brunch style food (with great kids’ options).

The kids played at the playground located at the water’s edge, paddled in the surprisingly warm lake, and took photos. This was a splendid place to stop en route to Aoraki.

Lake Pukaki

From Tekapo we drove on for 90 minutes to Aoraki, stopping at Lake Pukaki en route, another stunning bright turquoise lake, with Aoraki in the background.

Aoraki (Mount Cook)

Aoraki itself is a majestic snow-capped peak, rising above its neighbours. When the sun set it was left lit, while the mountains around were bathed in purple shadowy light; almost like it was the focus of its own theatre spotlight.

Hooker Valley Trail

After breakfast we drove a short way to the White Horse Hill Campsite where we set off for the Hooker Valley Trail walk.

This 10km (6.6 mile) walk winds along the river valley, across 3 swing bridges, past Mueller Lake, before reaching Hooker Lake at the foot of Aoraki.

The trail is fairly flat with gentle inclines and descents, over loose shingle, rocky paths and wooden board walks. It took us 2 hours 40 minutes plus 20 minutes resting and refuelling at Hooker Lake.

Hooker Lake first formed in the 1970s due to the glacier receding 50m every year. The lake was a muddy opaque grey thanks to ‘rock flour’ - the fine silt eroded from the glacier.

It apparently looks more turquoise sometimes, and it is the same rock flour that gives Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki their bright blue hues.

The walk itself was sublime, with ferns, grasses, heathers and wild flowers edging the path, set against a backdrop of majestic mountains.

Star Gazing

In June 2012 the Aoraki and MacKenzie Basin areas were declared an international dark skies reserve.

The reserve covers 1600 square miles and is the largest in the world. Outdoor light restrictions reduce light pollution, making this one of the best places on earth to stargaze.

The Hermitage Hotel supplied a telescope in our room and we could see Jupiter and a few stars with it.

We decided to drive a little away from the hotel lights to get a better view. We saw the Milky Way more clearly than we had at Abel Tasman, arcing across the whole sky; the Southern Cross; Orion; and a whole load of other star clusters.

Final thoughts

12 years on from the earthquake Ōtautahi Christchurch is still being rebuilt, with construction sites all over the city. What has been built so far is well designed and we loved the priority given to green spaces and play.

Lake Tekapo was wonderful, we really enjoyed the short time we spent there and if we were to visit again would consider staying there overnight.

There are an array of outdoor activities available at Aoraki including a boat tour of the glacial lagoon, and helicopter rides. We kept it simple (and free) with star gazing and the Hooker Valley Trail. Aoraki is a spectacular national park and a real highlight of our Aotearoa trip.