West Fitzroy Apartments are open for business! All our other properties are closed until further notice, due to the Canterbury earthquake.

• West Fitzroy Apartments

  66 Armagh Street, Christchurch City
  No earthquake damage, open and operating now.
  Studio, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments.
  
  

 

• Cashel Apartments

  87 Cashel Street, City Mall
  Currently closed due to the earthquake.
  Located in the heart of Christchurch citys night life and shopping, surrounded by cafes and bars, ideal for the young at heart.
  
  
  
   

• The Chamber Towers Apartments

  124 Lichfield Street
  Currently closed due to the earthquake.
  Right on the corner of High Street and within the historic redevelopment area of the Lichfield Lanes Precinct with its boutique shopping, cafes, restaurants and night life.
  
  
  
    

• Sightseeing

  • Hot air ballooning, 3 hours
  • International Antarctic Centre, 3 hours
  • Christchurch Gondola, 2 hours
  • Punting on the Avon, 1 hour
  • Wineries tour, half day
  • Air Force Museum, 2 hours
  • City cycle tour, 2 hours
  • Hanmer Hot Springs, day trip
  • TranzAlpine train journey to Greymouth, return day trip 

  Drive Times

  Picton – Christchurch, 5 hours
  Dunedin – Christchurch, 5 hours
  Greymouth – Christchurch, 4 hours
  
  For more information about Christchurch , click through to our Discover New Zealand Canterbury Region section

   

Christchurch Population: 350,000
Region: Canterbury

Coined “the Garden City” Christchurch is blessed with many public parks and gardens, created by the far sighted founders of the city.  Designed in far off Great Britain before the European settlers even set out for the other side of the world, Christchurch street and suburb names are an echo of the “old country” with names like Durham, Gloucester, Litchfield,  Oxford, Cambridge, Victoria, Belfast and Worcester.  And of course the Avon River meanders gently through the central city, complete with willow trees on its banks and punting in the summer.  A small city in global terms, this smart little centre boasts an impressive array of cultural assets including a newly built Art Gallery and attracts many special events throughout the year.  This centre for the Canterbury region is a great base to explore the area.

History and Culture

The Ngai Tahu iwi (tribe) lived in this area prior to the arrival of European settlers.  They enjoyed the bounty of the sea and the plentiful supply of eels from Lake Ellesmere.  Captain James Cook sighted the Canterbury coast in 1770 but did not land.  He incorrectly charted Banks Peninsula as an island.  The first recorded European landing was in 1815 when a sealing ship put into Akaroa to trade for potatoes and flax.  In the 1830’s whaling ships began anchoring in Port Cooper (Lyttelton) and Akaroa.  Shore whaling stations were later built on the southern bays of Banks Peninsula.  Signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi were collected in Akaroa in 1840, paving the way for British settlement.  However organised settlement began when a French captain founded the Nanto-Bordelaise Company which sent out French settlers who formed the town of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula in August 1840, despite the British claim.  The government purchased most of Ngai Tahu’s land in 1848 but broke a promise to leave them enough to live on.  The Ngai Tahu people fought for over a century for compensation over this matter, which was finally resolved to their satisfaction in recent years.  They now hold significant economic power in the region.

The London based Canterbury Society aimed to create a little slice of England in the new colony and designed the city of Christchurch prior to their arrival in 1850.  They carefully selected settlers for a balanced society, from the gentry to craftspeople and farmers, to the peasants who would be servants in the new world.  The new settlers travelled on four ships, the Cressy, Charlotte Jane, Randolf and Sir George Seymour and arrived in the Port of Lyttelton.  They then had to walk over the steep Port Hills to the site of the city of Christchurch, a marshy area on the plains.  The settlers created large sheep farms on the plains and hill country and many became rich exporting the wool and meat.  Christchurch became New Zealand’s first city by Royal Charter in July 1856.  Much emphasis was placed by the settlers on the arts and cultural pursuits and to this day the city enjoys the foundations laid down by the city forefathers.