Arion Farm

We stumbled upon this new attraction a few weeks ago, thanks to some friends of friends!  Arion Farm Education Park is a small farm park which is great for youngsters who want to get hands on with farm animals.

It's about another kilometre along the road past Orana Park, on Macleans Island Road (so there's no public transport  - you'll need your own car to get there), on the north west outlying area of Christschurch.  Once through the gates, you need to take the right hand fork in the driveway to get to the farm, which is set on an acre or so at the back of a training academy.  There is plenty of car parking down by the farm, but you need to drive slowly and carefully, as there are often animals (not to mention small children!) wandering about.

It is VERY low key, being run mainly by volunteers.  There is a small hut to pay your $5 per person entrance fee (free for babies under about 18 months) but the volunteers are often out and about - they'll see you and come and get your money eventually, so just start taking a look around.

You can also buy cups of feed for $1 each, which is a nice extra to do - the feed is suitable for all the animals, but I found the lambs to be most interested in it!

The nice thing about this farm is that you are welcome to go into any of the enclosures (a great opportunity to teach your kids about the basics of farm life - if a gate is shut, close it again after you) to get up close to the animals.  Basic common sense applies, of course.  I wasn't so keen to let my kids in with the female pig who had just had a litter of gorgeous little piglets, as she wasn't that keen on us getting so close!

There are sheep, cows, llamas, pigs, goats, ponies, and heaps of ducks, turkeys and chickens.  Spring time is the best time to visit, as there are lots of babies to see!

Arion is the perfect low cost option for those who don't want to pay three times the price at Willowbank.  It's obviously not as good, but the ability to touch the animals is great.  I think it's probably best suited to toddlers and those up to about 8 or 9, although my children (aged 9 and 10) enjoyed themselves.  They were a bit bored after about 45 minutes or so though, as they'd seen and done all there was to see and do.

Pony rides (for kids up to about 8 or 9, depending on size) are included in the entrance fee - just ask the volunteers if it's not set up.  Everyone working there seems very friendly and keen to talk about the animals.

The facilities are basic - there are portaloos and a tap for washing your hands (there is also hand sanitiser, which is great).  There are a couple of picnic tables there too.  I've seen groups out there for birthday parties, which actually seems to work quite well for a younger crowd!


The park is open in summer only from 10am til 3pm every day.

For more information, visit their website - Arion Farm Education Park.

The earthquakes

Christchurch was struck by a series of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, the worst of which occurred at 12.51pm on Tuesday 22 February 2011.

The city was brought to its knees, with damage to nearly every building in the city.  185 people died in the earthquake, with many thousands injured.

In the immediate days and weeks following the earthquake many households had no water, power, or sewerage.  Many had nowhere to live, as their homes had been so badly damaged that they were now unsafe or unliveable.

In the following months many thousands of homes were declared "red zoned", which basically meant that they were deemed to have such severe land damage that it was not economical to repair.  In effect, whole suburbs are in the process of being wiped off the map and turned into parkland.

The centre of the city was cordoned off by the authorities immediately, as tall buildings had collapsed and many others were at risk of falling down also.  The cordon shrunk slowly, bit by bit, as the buildings were either demolished or made safe.  As I write this, in December 2012, nearly two years later, the inner city cordon is still in place, with large areas of the inner city still inaccessible.  Nearly half of all the inner city buildings have been demolished.  Most businesses had to relocate to the suburbs, which has had a major impact on many people.

Tourism has understandably suffered during all of this turmoil, and a lot of the traditional "things to do" in Christchurch were simply not able to be done for a long time. Locals turned to the simple pleasures of a walk along the beach, or  taking the kids to the park instead.  Community organisations stepped in with family days, which helped make life a little better for many children.

However, nearly two years on, there is now a huge amount to do in Christchurch.  Most of its attractions have reopened and a lot of new ones have also appeared.  There are so many events on that you would struggle to experience them all.  Every weekend my children and I have a huge choice of things to do - shall we go to a school fair, or maybe to a free music event in the gardens?  Or what about the beach?  Or should we enjoy one of the many walks in the Port Hills?  Maybe we'll splash out and go ice skating, or ten pin bowling, or climbing at the Roxx?  Skate boarding, cycling, swimming?  Check out some history at Ferrymead?  Maybe we'll go and boogie down at the Gap Filler's Dance-O-Mat?

I've taken a small break from this blog since the earthquakes but am now back as I realise that there are plenty of things to do in Christchurch and I can't wait to get out there with my kids and friends and experience them all!

Have fun!

Tothills Maze

This is a brand new attraction in Christchurch, so we thought we'd give it a go. We already love the Maize Maze (see here for my review), which we make a point of going to every February or March (best time of year for corn mazes!) so were excited about a new maze in town.

Firstly, there are two mazes at Tothill's. One is a wooden one, the other a corn one - the wooden maze is open year round.

Secondly, you can pay to do just one maze or both of them. We decided to do both.


So, we paid a whopping $57.60 for two adults and two children (it's usually $10 per person per maze, or $16 for both) to do both mazes. Compared to the other maze's $35 family ticket it seemed steep, so I was really hoping it would be worth it!

Short answer: no.

Long answer: The wooden maze is kind of fun - but only took us 15 minutes to conquer. I guess we could have taken our time and read all the interesting facts about New Zealand and Kiwiana along the way, but the kids were really too interesting in winning (we split into two teams to see who could find all four corners and then make it to the centre tower first) to want to take their time and read stuff.

The corn maze lacked a real sense of purpose. We had a list of animals to find, but after finding the second duck and second mouse we started wondering if we were just finding the same animal over again or whether there were multiple stone statues of animals all through the maze. The other maze in town has a much better goal in place (e.g. finding the answers to 10 questions, if I remember rightly) which gives you a sense of purpose. There were also brainteaser puzzles scattered around the maze, which were fun for me, but the others weren't interested in stopping to ponder them, so I gave up after a while and just followed the kids.

And, that was it.

It took us just over an hour to be done. Again, the other maze takes a good hour and a half to two hours, plus has a lot of other free activities as well.


On the positives, the staff were friendly and the place has potential. Their long term aim is to be better than Wanaka's Puzzling World. As I LOVE Puzzling World (we can easily spend a whole day there) I would really like it if Tothill's reaches its goal!

But in the meantime, my suggestions are to drop the prices (to better compete) and give the cornfield maze punters something more defined to search for.


Where: Tothill's is on the corner of Shands Road and Marshs Road, out past Hornby.
When: Open every day but Monday from 10am til 5pm.

For more info visit their website: http://www.tothills.com/

Science Alive!

I have to admit that the first time I went to Science Alive was about a week after it first opened, way back in the early 1990s. I was working in the building next door and so got a freebie. It was okay, but I didn't consider it anything to rave about.

But now, I've got kids and they were begging me to take them to Science Alive. Thinking it would be kind of expensive, I finally gave in and off we went. And WOW! Seriously, it was worth the $37 admission (1 adult, 2 school aged kids) and has got bigger and better! We've now been twice in six months.

Firstly, don't go there unless you've got a minimum of about 2 or 3 hours to spare. The pass is an all-day ticket, so you can come and go as you want all day - this is great if you want to pop out for lunch, or even go and see a movie at the Hoyts cinema next door.

Secondly, it's really aimed at school aged and older kids, but there is actually quite an awesome preschoolers/parents' chill out room (complete with magazines to read) -and thankfully anyone can go in there, as my kids love checking out the real bee hive, the turtle, and other goodies. You do have to pay for your preschoolers, but the price is kept low (and under 2s are free - yay!).

Thirdly, book in for the rock climbing wall - as long as your kids are about four or five or older (I think there's a height limit) then they can do this half hour workshop. Great fun!

Fourth, try to see the daily show that is put on. We've now been to two - one was about the human body, which was slightly boring but at least it was projected onto the inside of an inflatable dome (which was cool!); the second one was about liquid nitrogen, and was absolutely fascinating!

Right, so you're in there, take your time and look around. On the ground floor there is a scary slide, a gyoscope, the rock climbing wall, and the earthquake house (especially fun after Christchurch's recent big shake! For the record, I reckon our 7.1 was somewhere between the "moderate" and "large" on their scale). The preschooler's room is also there, plus heaps of hands on exhibits to play with. I particularly like the giant satellite dishes at either end of the room - stand at one, send your kid to the other, and you can whisper into the dish and hear the other person incredibly clearly.

DON'T FORGET TO GO DOWNSTAIRS!

There are three more awesome rooms down there!

Firstly, have a play on the magic harp.



Then check out the mini golf (in total blackness except for an ultraviolet light and fluoro balls and holes). There are two other rooms with great hands on exhibits and brainteasers. Don't forget to check out the giant kaleidoscope - it's not often you get to see yourself reflected in millions of mirrors!

And my current fave exhibit is the phosphorescent wall - stand in front of the wall, turn on the strobe lights, wait five seconds, then walk away. YOUR SHADOW STAYS ON THE WALL!

The exhibitions change every three to six months, so there is always something new and interesting to see. They also do birthday parties!



Where: In the Hoyts 8 building on Moorhouse Ave (the old railway station) so park around the back in the free carpark.
392 Moorhouse Avenue
Christchurch
Phone 03 365 5199

Cost:

Adults: $15

Kids: $11

And there's actually a whole range of other various prices for unaccompanied kids, parents with preschoolers, family passes, etc etc, so check out their website!

Hours:

10am til 5pm daily.

http://www.sciencealive.co.nz/

Westburn Bike Park

This is one of those hidden secrets - not a lot of Christchurch people seem to know about it. We discovered it quite by accident when friends of ours told us about it.

Westburn Park is an average suburban playground but with a difference - it has a mini road system set up for kids. There are roundabouts, Give Way and Stop signs, a railroad crossing, pedestrian crossings, one way bridges, etc.



The kids LOVE this place. They could happily spend a couple of hours here, mostly riding their bikes around, but also taking turns at being pedestrians on the little footpaths, or just going and playing on the playground equipment.

It's aimed at kids aged up to about 8 years old.



Where: Westburn Terrace in Burnside. It runs between Greers and Grahams Road, on the south side of Memorial Ave. If you prefer, there is an alleyway to the park from Memorial Ave, opposite Burnside High.

Facilities: Toilets, drinking fountain, playground equipment, shady trees to sit under and a couple of park benches.

Travis Wetlands

It was a nice sunny day so we thought we'd take a walk around the Travis Wetlands.

We'd never been before, but had seen a city council brochure so thought it sounded interesting. My seven year old boy is mad about wildlife so was hoping to see something exciting.

The verdict? Yeah, it was okay. A pleasant walk.

It took us (one adult and two kids, aged 6 and 7) about an hour and a half to walk around the whole circuit. They were pretty tired at the end.

We went clockwise from the main carpark, and one of the first things you come to is a viewing hide, which was kind of cool.

We didn't see any particularly exciting birds, but there were plenty of ducks, a few geese, and lots of pukekos (which were pretty good as far as the kids were concerned). Oh yeah, we saw some hawks (harriers?) so that was cool.

Three quarters of the way around there is a tall viewing deck that you climb up to. Again, nothing really to see but lots of flaxes and rushes.

All in all, yeah, it was a pleasant walk and gave us some good exercise. Don't expect to see heaps of amazing wildlife, although you may strike it lucky (as apparently there are up to 55 different types of birds).

Take drink bottles as it can get pretty hot - there's not a lot of shade. The track is fine for pushchairs and wheelchairs.

Where: The corner of Travis Road and Frosts Road, out by QE2. There's a carpark off Frosts Road, up by Beach Road.

Cost: Free.

Website for maps and more info - click here.

Children's theatre

Every school holidays we are lucky in Christchurch to be able to take the kids to the theatre for a reasonably price.

The Court Theatre, The Mill, and The Malthouse all hold regular school holiday performances. Prices are good - usually around $7 or $8 per ticket.

The Court Theatre is in the Arts Centre in town, and the actors are professionals, which usually makes for a great show.

The Mill is in Wise Street, off Lincoln Road in Addington, and the shows are usually of a good standard.

The Malthouse is at the South end of Colombo Street, and the actors are often teenagers doing drama courses, so the quality is a bit more amateur. It's called "cushion theatre", as everyone sits on the floor with a cushion (BYO, although I think some are provided).


The Court Theatre shows are good for kids aged 3 til around 9 years old. The Mill's Playbox is best for the 1 to 5 year olds and the Malthouse is similar. Most of the shows only run for 45 minutes to an hour, so aren't too long for the little ones and their little attention spans!

Check out the theatre's websites for details of current shows and booking details.