Christchurch is one of my favourite cities to explore without a car. The city is built on a wetland, which, while not the greatest idea, means that it is so flat, when the rain falls on the ground, the water just pools and don't flow anywhere. They have to rely on the sun to come out and evaporate it off. (That's an exaggeration btw)
The first time I travelled there solo in 2016, I met up with a local and when he told me he biked to work on a fixed gear bike, I was so surprised I asked him, "but what happens when you need to go uphill??" He waved his arm across Christchurch and said, "what hill?"
What hill indeed. While I didn't get to travel on a bike the first time I was there, I took advantage of the awesome bus network. Christchurch is small enough that it's easy to rely on the bus and foot to get to where you needed to. The Central Bus Interchange is also very flash and makes it easy for transfers.
It is also very affordable. Buy a Metro card from one of the shops or from the interchange, and for $2, you get unlimited transfers within 2 hours. I stayed at a backpackers right by the Blue bus line, and easily travelled to almost all the places I'd like to go.
Head to metroinfo.co.nz for the latest travel info - Route maps, timetables etc.
New Brighton + Travis Wetland
From the Bus Interchange, take the Yellow bus #5 to New Brighton. It has a library (which was closed for earthquake repair when I was there) and a pier attached to it. It was desolated save from a few seagulls resting because of how windy it was.
Close by, there is a very popular hot pools, He Puna Taimoana where the locals enjoy a soak with amazing sea view. It is so popular, you have to book your entry time in advance. I recommend booking two weeks ahead if you're going during peak times like the weekends, as places fill up fast.
From New Brighton, take a 10 minute bus ride to Travis Wetland (#60 or #135). You will love it if you're a bird lover like me. I went in mid-November and it was teeming with all sorts of birds and their youngs - Canadian geese, Paradise shell ducks, chaffinch, stilts, swans, and lots of native ducks as well as mallards, of course. Bring a binocular if you have one. There are observation posts / huts where you can hide and bird watch. They also have very informative panels where you can learn more about the wetland that Christchurch is built upon.
I met a lovely volunteer with her wheelbarrow full of plants while I was there. They had regular planting bees and do maintenance works like weeding. It's such a great community.
From there it's easy to catch Orange bus #7 back to the Interchange. (or if you ended up on the wrong side of Travis Wetland, catch #60 which is less frequent).
Ilam Gardens, Riccarton Bush, Mona Vale
This is a trip for Saturdays, when the Farmers Market happens at Riccarton Bush. They sell lots of fresh produce, preserves, meat products and it's a good place to grab a bite if you're in time for lunch.
The people there were also quite cool. I went there with someone I met at the backpackers. The lady at a fruit stall asked where we were from. My companion was from Canada and she said that was really cool, what about me? I'm from Auckland. "Oh, how boring." Thanks, I know right?
You can catch the Purple bus #3 to Ilam Gardens to start with. It's not very big and it's more of a natural garden with lots of fox gloves and flowering trees. Then take the same bus back towards Riccarton House and Bush.
It's another ten minutes' walk to Mona Vale from the farmers market. It's highly worth the walk, do not miss it! The gardens looked amazing and there is a duck pond as well. It was very well looked after and there was a wedding photo shoot going on when I was there.
Bridle Path + Littleton Harbour
Did I say Christchurch is flat? I lied. Not all of it is flat. To the south of the city lies the Port Hills, great place for hikes. There is a vehicle only tunnel that takes you to Littleton Harbour. Above the entrance of the tunnel, is the starting point for Bridle Path that takes you up over the hills then back down to the harbour on the other side. If you don't fancy climbing uphill, there is also a gondola that you can ride. Take bus #28 from the Interchange.
The Ashburton Earthquake happened the night before I headed off to Bridle Path. The gondola was closed for earthquake damage inspection so I headed up the hill on foot. (I wasn't planning on taking the gondola anyway).
As I trudged up, the city view unfurled behind me. It would have looked great had I made it to the top of the hills. As I climbed higher and higher, several signs along the way warned me of dangerous loose boulders and warned me to not stop on the track, keep moving.
An earthquake just happened last night, and I remembered the tragic story of someone I distantly knew of being killed by a boulder on this very hill.
It was the day of the Christchurch Earthquake back in 2012 and the tunnel was closed. He was on his way home on his four wheel drive. Many people were stuck on the city side of the tunnel and struggled to get home to Littleton up Bridle Path in their office shoes.
This kind man ferried people up Bridle Path with his car for several trips and at the end, parked his car at the summit as the path down to Littleton was closed to cars. On his walk downhill, he was crushed by a falling rock.
A very unfortunate thing to happen to someone with such a kind heart. I looked up the hill and studied the many big boulders scattered everywhere and decided, maybe today was not a good day for Bridle Path, and headed back down.
I was equally hesitant before I decided to travel through the tunnel on bus. Surely it would not collapse on me. And I survived.
Littleton Harbour was small, and a little hilly. They had some boutique shops, cafés and restaurants. You can also take a ferry to Quail Island from here. I didn't because it was out of my piddly little budget. On the island you could see many shipwrecks and it was used to house leprosy patients a long time ago. I'll go there one day if I get a chance, but apparently it's a good place to swim and walk in the summer with family.
A ferry also takes you to Diamond Harbour across the water. Again, I was too broke to go, but I think you can go there for food and more shops.
On my more recent trip to Christchurch again, I had finally walked Bridle Path from the base of the gondola to port. It was very steep and I could see why people would have struggled to climb up. The view was absolutely stunning, especially if you make an extra short climb to the gondola station at the top of the hill. On the viewing platform, you have a sweeping view of the city up north and on a good day, you can even see the Southern Alps. To the south, you will see Diamond Harbour and Quail Island.
Styx Mill Reserve, the Groynes & Waimak River Riding
These two reserves can be reached by the Blue #1 bus. Styx Mill is more accessible, being closer to the bus stops, but I didn't find anything of particular interest there and got lost in the reserve as it started to get dark. It had a lot of trees and was more of a bush walk.
I went to the Groynes on a different day. It was quite a walk to get there after you hop off the Blue bus, and I had to walk next to a highway without any footpaths, which was kind of dangerous. By looking at the maps now, they've built an underpass through the highway so it should be a lot safer to walk there compared to when I went.
The Groynes was a peaceful place, very quiet and tranquil. Lots of ducks and a cute children's playground where I left my favourite hat behind by accident. There were a few fishponds that were used for children's fishing competitions with managed salmon and trout population.
I had a nice picnic lunch surrounded by Californian quails, mallards, scaups and tail wagging zombie ducks (as nicknamed by a fellow backpacker).
If you travelled a little further north, Waimak River Riding is about 20 minutes walk from the last bus stop before the bus crosses Waimakariri River. I had my first ever horse-riding experience there and thoroughly enjoyed it. They take in ex-race horses and give them much deserved retirement lives. The horse I was on, Dory, was gentle and calm. We walked along the forest path by the river, surrounded by bird calls. I was the only one signed up for the trek that morning so it was just me and the guide and two amazing horses. It felt really special and personal.
Show Day
If you're in Christchurch over Canterbury Anniversary weekend, you must join the locals at Show Day. Take the Orange bus #7 to go to Canterbury Agricultural Park for a day surrounded by farm animals.
The highlight of the day for me was the duck herding show, where a border collie herd ducks around an obstacle course and lastly back into their truck. (Can you tell that I love ducks?)
They also have an obstacle course for llama. You can also watch sheep shearing competitions, dog shows, cow shows, sheep shows, chicken shows, pig shows... all sorts of shows you can think of relating to farms. And police tractors. Why on earth do the police need their own tractors? I have no idea.
