Our crossover from the North to South Island

Our Wellington stopover was a quick 24 hours so we tried to see as much as we could while we were there. We rode the cable car to the summit for the views of the city, walked the waterfront to Queen’s Wharf and lively Cuba Street that has lots of shops, cafes and restaurants, and took a tour of the Wētā Workshop, more details on that in a different post. To get to the South Island, Jason and I opted to fly to our next destination, Christchurch, rather than take the ferry. For us, this was merely a decision based on time and wanting to use those hours elsewhere on the South Island. Wellington was definitely a fun city that we’d like to visit again and spend more time checking it out.

After moving onto Christchurch, we picked up our rental car and headed into the city center. Christchurch is ranked as a global street art capital so we spent some time walking throughout the city admiring the work. There are even walking tours offered to take visitors around to explore the art and hear from the artists.

Back in 2010 and 2011, the city of Christchurch was devastated by 2 major earthquakes and the city is still feeling the effects, but new rebuilding and development projects can be seen throughout the city, including a museum called Quake City that is an exhibit sharing stories from the earthquake and people who survived it. Below is an image of the cathedral in its current state. Work to rebuild it started in 2020 and when completed it will have a new visitor center and new tower.

Another highlight on the city is the Riverside Market in the heart of the city. This is an indoor retail market and multi dining experience. Definitely worth checking out for local foods and crafts.

And finally one of my favorites was that they have hop-on/ hop-off tram, like the buses, that cruises around the city and offering history and sightseeing. I really wanted to do this, but we just didn’t have the time.

After leaving Christchurch, we hit the road and headed towards Twizel, our home base for 3 nights in a modern log cabin. This place was amazing and felt very secluded, but not too far away from town. On the way down, we stopped at Lake Tekapo and the Church of the Good Shepard with lupins in full bloom. This is a great and VERY popular photo stop because this time of year the area is covered with flowers and there didn’t seem to be a bad view anywhere.

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