Christchurch

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I didn't have a huge amount of time in Christchurch but as its quite a compact city I think it was enough and was able to see most of the main things. I had one evening there between my stay in Queenstown and the quick trip to Kaikoura and then had another afternoon and evening as well as some of the following day before I had to catch my flight to Sydney.  On the first evening I had in Christchurch, I just had a walk around the city with a few of the other guys who'd been in the bus. We were staying very centrally so past the main building such as the Cathedral and Arts Centre but they were already closed by the time we arrived so instead headed down to the Botanical Gardens and walked around there for a while, which was very pretty. Christchurch is renowed for being a very English city and that was defintely evident with all the street names. I am not sure I would say it felt all that much like a English city but there is something about it which gives it a bit of a European flavour. There are lots of nice cafes and restaurants there so went out for a nice meal which was nice after the long drive up from Queenstown.

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Once i arrived back in Christchurch from Kaikoura I was able to walk around and see a bit more of the city. I really liked the atmosphere of the city but it was hard to believe that it's New Zealand's second largest city as it really doesn't feel very big at all which i suppose it isn't! On my final morning I went down to the Arts Centre and well as having a quick look around the Canterbury Museum. It was another nice and sunny day and also enjoyed having a final walk around and took a quick look at the cathedral before having to head back to the hostel to pickup my bags, ready for my shuttle to take me to the Airport. Really can't believe how quickly the month in New Zealand went! Is such a beautiful country, it would definitely have been good to have a couple of extra weeks there as although got to see most of the main places it was a bit rushed! I think New Zealand is somewhere would like to go back to in the future as although its a small country there is such a wide variety of stuff to see and is all very beautiful abeit in different ways.