Showing 1-11 of 11 results
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Arts Centre
The enclave of wonderful Gothic Revival buildings has been transformed into the excellent Arts Centre, where arts and craft outlets share the premises with theatres, restaurants and cafés. The visitors centre ( - ), found inside the clock tower on Worcester St, provides details of free guided tours of the complex.
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Botanic Gardens
The city's Botanic Gardens comprise 30 riverside hectares planted with 10,000-plus specimens of indigenous and introduced plants. There are conservatories and thematic gardens to explore, lawns to sprawl on, and a café at the Botanic Gardens visitors centre (h - Mon-Fri, - Sat & Sun). Kids can make full use of the playground adjacent to the café.
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Canterbury Museum
The absorbing Canterbury Museum has amassed a wonderful collection of natural and manmade items of significance to NZ. Highlights include the Maori gallery, with some stunning pounamu (greenstone or jade) pieces; the coracle in the Antarctic Hall used by a group shipwrecked on Disappointment Island in 1907; and the child-oriented Discovery (admission NZ$2 ), with interactive displays and living exhibits such as docile tarantulas.
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Christchurch Art Gallery
Set in an eye-catching metal-and-glass collage built in 2003, the city's Christchurch Art Gallery has an engrossing permanent collection divided into historical, 20th-century and contemporary galleries, plus temporary exhibitions featuring NZ artists. Guided tours are held at . Stop in at the spacious café-wine bar on-site, and browse the high-quality gift shop.
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Christchurch Cathedral & Cathedral Square
Cathedral Square is at Christchurch's heart and the best place to start exploring the city. The Cathedral, built in Gothic Revival style and symbolising the Church of England bedrock of this city, dominates Cathedral square in Christchurch's heart. You can climb the cathedral spire for a small fee and get a great view of the city.
In the centre of the square is the 18m-high Metal Chalice sculpture , created by Neil Dawson to acknowledge the new millennium.
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International Antarctic Centre
The International Antarctic Centre is part of a huge complex built for the administration of the NZ, US and Italian Antarctic programmes. Learn all about the icy continent via historical, geological and zoological exhibits, including videos of life on Scott Base, an aquarium of creatures gathered under the ice in McMurdo Sound, and an 'Antarctic Storm' chamber where you get a first-hand taste of -18°C wind chill.
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Mona Vale
Mona Vale is a charming Elizabethan-style homestead on 5½ riverside hectares of landscaped gardens, ponds and fountains. Dine in the café inside the homestead, wander the gorgeous grounds, or take a half-hour Avon River punt (per person a NZ$17 ).
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Orana Wildlife Park
Orana Wildlife Park has an excellent walk-through native bird aviary, a nocturnal kiwi house, and a reptile exhibit featuring the wrinkly tuatara. But most of the grounds are devoted to Africana, including lions, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, lemurs, oryx and cheetahs. Animal feeding times are scheduled daily and there's a 'farmyard' area where children can pet the more domesticated animals.
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Science Alive!
Inside the city's old train station, Science Alive! is crammed with ever-changing interactive exhibits - stuff with a scientific bent, from optical illusions to things that kiddies can push, pull and climb. There's even a glow-in-the-dark minigolf course, the Black Hole (entry plus minigolf adult/child/family NZ$15 / NZ$10 / NZ$45 ). The city's free yellow shuttle bus runs along Moorhouse Ave.
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Southern Encounter Aquarium & Kiwi House
Southern Encounter Aquarium & Kiwi House, accessed through the visitor information centre, exposes you to disturbingly large eels, seahorses, turtles and other marine life. It also has a touch tank, feeding times and a small swaying bridge that kids will love. Don't expect much from the kiwi enclosure; these endangered birds don't like light and are hypersensitive to sound.
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Willowbank Wildlife Reserve
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, about 6km north of the centre, is a good faunal reserve, with a focus on native NZ animals and hands-on enclosures that contain alpacas, wallabies and deer. Tours are held several times a day; evening Maori performances also take place here.
Showing 1-11 of 11 results
