What's there to do in New Zealand?

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Picola

As far as activities in christchurch go you can
go up the gondola - no luge up the top or anything but lovely views of the city and other stuff to look at and you can eat a meal up there
The international antarctic centre, which has a snow room, penguins (little blue) and a hagglund ride, a fun and educational place but on the expensive side
also theres the tram
the arts centre and gallery.
take a walk through the botanic gardens
visit orana park or willowbank zoo (orana park is much bigger with Cheetahs, rhinos, lions and tigers etc)
drive to new brighton beach and walk along the pier. also check out sumner beach and have a coffee over there.
Drive over to Lyttelton through the tunnel and you could go on a harbour cruise / catch a ferry over to Diamond harbour where you could have a walk around.

outside of Christchurch, Akaroa on banks peninsula is about a 1 hour 20 minute drive. Its a beautiful little french town with lots of character. they also offer wildlife cruises and swimming with the dolphins. be sure to stop in at Barrys bay
farm to sample some cheese
also theres hanmer Springs which is about a 1.5 hour north west drive from Christchurch. its an alpine village and the main attraction are the huge thermal pools there. its a great place to go to relax and unwind. Lots of cool shops to look in and also don't forget to go for a walk up conical hill (only a 20 minute walk)
kaikoura is 2.5 hours north of Christchurch and its a great place to visit for anything to do with the sea! think seafood, seals and whales! you can walk around the rocks and be within metres of seals lazing in the sun. If you have a bit of money to spare then you can even go swimming with the seals, or whale watching.
If you had heaps of spare time then also i'd recommend fitting in a trip south and across to Lake tekapo which is absolutly stunning and will be surrounded by snow in June. Mt cook New Zealands highest peak is an hour away from tekapo its about a 2.5-3 hour drive to tekapo and Mt cook is another hour past that.
I hope you enjoy your time here and get to fit lots of stuff in :-)

saltwater

Drive to Queenstown if possible. It's a really nice place, lots to do with bars, casinos and scenery everywhere. The drive from Christchurch would probably take a while so you might want to stop overnight, but the whole place is so pretty with snow covered mountains on the way, it's worth the trip.

â€¢ Koala â€¢ uÊop É¹Çpun

Regions in the South Island to give you an idea are described as the following::::

Marlborough
"the wine and food capital of the country"

Nelson/Golden Bay
"hops and crops and crafts"

Canterbury - "Christchurch
". . . a garden city more English than England

The West Coast
"a heritage of mining shapes the land and the people"

Mount Cook to Wanaka
"magnificent mountains and picture-perfect lake, winter sports and the worlds most beautiful fighting machines"

Queenstown and Central Otago
"the adventure centre of the Pacific"

Dunedin
"The Antipodean Edinburgh "

Fiordland
"a raw, elemental, awe-inspiring landscape"

Southland - "of oysters, tuataras, bootleg hooch . . . and solitude"

******************************
For my picks are:::

From top of the south island (Nelson) with the great beaches, vineyards, outdoor adventure and art centres. http://www.nelsonnz.com.
Abel Tasman National Park, http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/PlaceProfile.aspx?id=38455 Golden sand beaches, Awaroa Lodge, http://www.awaroalodge.co.nz swim with the seals, http://www.sealswim.com

Marlborough / Picton â€“ The Sounds - http://www.destinationmarlborough.com/

Whale watching is in Kaikoura. http://www.kaikoura.co.nz
I
http://www.whalewatch.co.nz
http://www.whales.co.nz
http://www.worldofwhales.co.nz

Christchurch, the garden city - http://www.christchurchnz.net/visitchch

Franz Joseph Glacier - http://www.franzjosefglacier.com

Queenstown - adventure capital of NZ. Costly little place with all the attractions on offer. You can't pass up a bungy jump though. http://www.ajhackett.co.nz
and the Milford Sounds, http://www.fiordland.org.nz

Wanaka â€“ Lake Wanaka - http://www.lakewanaka.co.nz/index.cfm/Home

Have fun on your trip

-Sandy+

Visit me! duh
Nah you can take a road trip and go up to Hanmer Springs(bout 1 1/2 hour drive).
Ummm theres not much to do in CHCh, lots of gardens, trees.... the shopping is ok i suppose

travel_stories

If you look at my site http://www.holidays-in-newzealand.com/christchurch-travel.html
there is a very long list of things to do there. It will be quite cold by mid June so if you are into skiing you could go up to Mt Hutt.The Tranz Alpine Rail trip to the West coast would be nice in snow. Or you could drive if the conditions are OK. Christchurch has plenty to do with museums, the Art Centre, they have a really nice Art Gallery, catch the gondola up to the Port Hills. Drive over to Governors Bay and around the bays there. Akaroa is lovely.French's Bay is really nice with a cheese factory on the way, wineries etc.If you check that page I have given, most ideas are covered.

Have a lovely stay in New Zealand.

sueby40

Drive down to Queenstown and enjoy a full on week of activities there including, bungy jumping, white water rafting, jet boating, skiing, ski diving, horse riding on a ranch...you name it ...there are soo many activities to do in the South Island...especially Queenstown area....also Marlborough sounds...some of the most awesome sights in the world...It's worth getting your boyfriend to check out the flights booked via NZ as quite often it will work out cheaper due to the exchange rates......See websites below! Have a fun time:)

Robert H

Check this site too.

And if you are from a country where they drive on the right and are likely to do any driving here, make sure you take care to give yourself time to adjust.

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