Aotearoa

Location: Christchurch
Distance travelled – 21.708 km/13,489 miles

Aotearoa (ah-oh-tee-ah-row-ah) - Land of the long white cloud.

On 31 July 1856, Queen Victoria conferred the title of “city” on Christchurch, making it the first in New Zealand. The town was in many ways an Anglican settlement, and grew up round its church. That same letter creating the city also conferred the title of Bishop on Henry Harper and thus created a Cathedral.

It's not the biggest cathedral in the Anglican Communion, but it's beautiful inside. There's a simplicity and openness about the interior that the great European cathedrals have sometimes lost.

The tower has 134 steps to the top of the square section where little balconies offer views of the surrounding buildings and mountains (on a clear day). This, for example, is the old Post Office in the square in front of the Cathedral:

It's now shared between the Tourist Information Office (i-site) and Starbucks.

Christchurch now has only one short tram route, but it's a good way to get a feel for the city centre. The tram runs past lots of the main tourist attractions in the city and a ticket is valid for two days, so it's quite handy. That said, not much in the centre is really beyond walking distance.

After touring the Cathedral, I took the tram to the Arts Centre where there was a market spread out over outdoor stalls and indoor rooms. Then it was on to the Museum which covers the early Maori Culture as well as European influence in the area. There's also an extensive exhibition of Antarctic Exhibition memorabilia. New Zealand has often been a base for exploring Antarctica.

It's easy to equate the Maori of New Zealand with the Aborigines in Australia but that is way off the mark. The Australian Aborigines have been there for 50,000 years and maybe longer. The Maori arrived in New Zealand only about 800 years ago.

One animal that wasn't pleased about that was the moa – a large flightless bird, which the Maori hunted to extinction. Part of me was slightly relieved that here, at last, was something that you can't blame on European colonisers!

In the Antarctic room are several artefacts from the voyages of discovery including sledges, food rations and even early cars. Captain Scott would no doubt have delighted to have the use of something like this Sno-Cat from 1957/58.

Just behind the museum is the Botanic Garden which is laid out round a loop in the Avon River (named after Avon Water, a tributary of the Clyde):

As well as large parkland areas the Garden has a lovely warm greenhouse full of tropical trees and other plants:


There's even a banana tree (though it's not really a tree, apparently):

In another room in the greenhouse is a beautiful display of flowering plants:

Another short tram ride took me back to the Art Gallery which seems to be concentrating on very modern pieces, which aren't really to my taste. This, for example:

apparently makes a humorous comparison between the much vaunted and celebrated rugby culture of New Zealand and it's less talked about gay culture. Well, quite.

That seemed like enough for one day, so I headed for a nice little bar on Oxford Terrace along the river and tucked into some delicious sausage and mash washed down with local beer.