Barnett Park Cave walk

If you're into walking and you're after a pleasant short walk then Barnett Park might be what you're after.

It's in Redcliffs, on the main road. There's a playground at the start, so you can bribe the kids with Happy Times once they complete the walk.

The walk supposedly takes about an hour and forty minutes, in a round trip.

I've attempted it twice.

The first time was with my husband and two kids, aged 3 and 5. The five year old was fine. The three year old found it tough going and made life a misery for us all.

We managed to make it up two thirds of the track, the goal of the big cave lurking tantalisingly just a short distance away, but no. After more than an hour we had to stop for good and turn back. Damn.



The second time I tried the track I went with a friend. I didn't realise just how uber-fit she was, and just how uber-unfit I was. We set off at a cracking pace, and within two minutes into the uphill leg I was wheezing like an asthmatic. Not good.


We continued, with rest breaks every hundred metres or so for poor old me. Rather embarrassing.


We finally made it up to the cave - what a great cave (wheeeeze!)! What a great view (wheeeze!)! I'm sure that fitter people would have appreciated it more than I did.


The downhill leg was much easier.


We managed to complete the round trip in about an hour, which is still pretty good, but gosh, it was hard.


Watch for sheep poo - it's everywhere. Watch for the little side track about two thirds of the way up - it takes you to a secret (or not so secret, judging by all the rock climbing carabiners on the rock faces) cave, which is quite cool to be in and makes up for those not being quite fit enough to make it to the main cave.

The little side cave.

So there you have it. Barnett Park walk. A pleasant morning out for the fitter ones amongst us, a torturous trek with a nice view at the top for the rest of us.

The Maize Maze

Now this is something different to do in Christchurch.

It's basically a big ol' cornfield, that's been turned into a maze. You pay your money, you get a score card, you then spend a couple of hours going crazy in the maze trying to find all the clues (and so winning a free lollipop!).



We spent three hours at the Maize Maze recently. It was a lovely sunny day (take bottled water!) and it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

The maze this year is carved in the shape of a dragon. Amazing. Do what we didn't do and check out the aerial photo before you head into the maze - it'll make things easier.

Apparently they do a different design each year. Pretty amaizing actually!

I was worried at first, panicking that I would be turning up to some grumpy farmer's back door, and that he'd not accept eftpos, but hey. Turns out there was a proper reception, with cash register, with eftpos facilities, and a wee shop too.

The staff were friendly - while we were waiting for our friends we chatted away to them about the maze. Apparently it takes most people an hour to find all the clues (we took nearly two hours) and the maze only operates from January til the end of April (as, duh, it's a corn field. It's the corn season. They actually harvest the corn at the end of the season and sell it.)

After we finished up the maze and were sucking away on our free lollipops, we spent a happy hour playing with all the other games that were included in the cover charge. There was petanque, several mind games, puzzles, mazes, hoop tosses, all sorts of things. It kept us entertained for more than an hour, so that was good.

My only complaint about the whole afternoon was with my lazy four year old daughter, who MOANED and WHINGED and WHINED after the first half hour. "I'm tired!" "I want to go the toilet!" "I'm sick of walking through this maze! Can we go home now?"

But the other kids with us (aged 4 and 5) were superstars and loved every minute of it, although I suspect that the maze is suited to older kids, or at least younger kids with good fitness and stamina.

"I'm lost!"

The whole thing cost us (1 adult, 2 children, aged 4 and 5) $21.50, but check out the website for up to date prices.

Oh, and they also do something called "Urban Paintball" year round. Dunno what that's like - maybe I'll check it out later in the year (it's extra to the maze).






The Maize Maze (and Urban Paintball)


451 Halswell Junction Road, Halswell, Christchurch