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.

Ghost Walk at the Arts Centre

Did you know that Christchurch has its very own Ghost Walk? No? Well, you do now.

For $20 you can join a small group, hosted by "Dr Aloysius Mort", and take in the hidden secrets of the neo-gothic Arts Centre at night.

Being as the Ghost Walk is put on by the Court Theatre, a part of you KNOWS that the ghosts aren't really real, it's all a big show... but ooooh! It's actually really quite creepy, although I think that the suspense and drama of the event is more to blame for us jumping at our own shadows than any real ghosts!

You learn a huge amount of history (true? embellished? I'm not sure) about the Arts Centre and you get to go "behind the scenes" into places that the general public usually don't get to see.

NOT recommended for children - teenagers would probably be fine though. There is a fair amount of walking up and down winding staircases, so it's not so good for people with mobility problems.

Like any show that involves a small group of participants, the type of group you end up with on the night can make or break your experience. On the night I went I was lucky - we had a nice group of around 8 people, and they were all very excitable and squealed loudly at times, which ramped the suspense and excitability levels up for the rest of us. A friend went on a different night - they were in a larger group of about 15 people, with a couple of boorish sceptics who spent the whole time muttering loudly about how this is all made up and wasn't really real. Grrrrr! (Well, why the hell did you waste your $20 and spoil it for the rest of us!?)

For something different, a Ghost Walk is really very cool.


Book at the Court Theatre website, or you can phone them on 963 0870. You can also book through the i-Site Visitor's Centre in Cathedral Square. Tours take about 1 hour 20 mins, and run on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday nights - 8.01pm in winter, 9.01pm in summer.

Orana Park

So, we went to Orana Park. The kids have been begging me to take them for ages, but I've been resisting, because:

a) I have never thought that it's as good as Willowbank
b) I bought an annual pass for my son last year, but when I gave it to my husband to hand over to the counter on his second visit of the year he reckons they made him buy ANOTHER annual pass for my five year old. So our two visits for him cost $28 instead of $14. Grrrr. (Of course, this may not have been Orana Park's fault, it may have been my husband's fault, but hey. It's clouded my perception. And plus I always meant to get our $14 back but then my husband lost the pass.)

But I digress.

So, off we went - there was myself, my two children (aged six and four) and my friend and her three children (aged six, four and one). As neither of us had annual passes (which are well worth it if you're going to be going twice or more in a year - but BEWARE, the passes are not valid for a 12 month period, only until the following July... so don't buy one in May or June if you're not going to go at least twice in the next couple of months!) we paid up: it's free for preschoolers, $7 for children and $21 for adults. But we got a concession (2 adults and up to 3 kids) for $49.

We started walking. The thing I hate about Orana Park is that it's SO spread out. You walk for literally miles and the kids are exhausted. There is a little tractor thing you can catch every half hour, which in retrospect we should have taken FIRST and then have just walked to the good bits for a closer look afterwards. (We made the mistake of spending two and a half hours of walking around the park first, getting totally exhausted in the process. Then by the time we got back to the main base, intending to take the train thing, it had finished for the day. Cue children's tantrums.) The train/tractor is free.

Yep, only another hour of walking to go!

Meerkats. Otters. Boring adventure playground with quite possibly the worst designed flying fox around (the rope is too short! Kids can't do it by themselves!). Quite possibly the most depressing farmyard in existence. There was a lamb, two calves, and a couple of donkeys. The kids enjoyed patting the lamb.

The aviary was pretty good, actually! I was pleasantly surprised with that.

The monkeys looked suicidal. The tiger was a disappointment.

We then looked at our watches, realised it was nearly time for the giraffe feeding and so skipped the rest of that section (e.g. lions, zebras and stuff) to hottail it back to the giraffes.

Now, I LOVE the giraffe feeding. A highlight, and it makes the entrance fee worthwhile. You get right up and personal with the giraffes and there is plenty of food for everyone to have a go.

Then we moved on to see the rhinos being fed. Again, it was good.

Then the cheetahs, which was also good.

Then we slogged back around the dry dusty dirt road (just like the African savannah! I was trying to convince myself), past the Highland cattle and ostrich, back to the main building, where we discovered that it was already 4.30pm and that the train had finished for the day. (Did I mention the children's tantrum yet? Yes? Good.)

We tried to remember why we'd left it so late in the piece to come to Orana Park - oh yes, that's right, we wanted to give the kids lunch beforehand so to avoid them trying to get us to eat at the cafe. (There is a cafe, in case you're interested). In hindsight, I think it would have been best with children this young to have got there at around 10am and taken plenty of food and drink for a picnic (there are heaps of picnic spots).

So, next time we'll be doing that. Next time we'll also be getting on that damned train FIRST. Next time we'll make sure we co-ordinate our visit to take in the giraffes being fed, and any other feedings we can make (as they are by far the highlights).

I don't know why Orana Park makes me so grumpy as it's not that bad (and I have plenty of friends who absolutely LOVE the place!). I guess it always seems to exhaust me, and the dustiness, the heat (why is it always hot when I go there?), and the walking long distances just to see a single animal in a field makes me cranky. However, it's actually well worth a look, especially at feeding times. Older children are probably more suited to Orana Park than younger children (Willowbank for them!) due to the long distances.


Go to Orana Park's website for more information, including location (i.e. it's a way out of Christchurch, out behind the airport - it takes about 30 minutes to drive from the central city), prices and feeding times.

The Beach in Wintertime

It's winter. It's cold. It's time to hit the beach!

Step One: Check the weather.
Choose a sunny winter's day - one that has a daytime temperature of at least 12 degrees is best! And try to avoid a windy day! Sand in kids' eyes ruins a nice day out.

Step Two: Check the tides.
I read the Press each day so I can look for the tide info there, on the weather page, or you can check out the Metservice website. You want to ideally choose a day where you get there bang on low tide.

Step Three: Go to the beach.
Dress warmly. Take gumboots and jackets. Maybe beanies if it's windy. We prefer South Brighton beach, but any old beach will do.



Step Four: Remember your shovels and spades!
We've got kid sized shovels, they're brilliant. Start digging!

Step Five: Dig.
Once you've dug your "island" and your "moat" sit on it and wait for the tide to come in. It's surprisingly fun!



Step Six: Home time!
After a couple of hours of this it's time to come home. Everyone is muddy and exhausted. An ice-cream on the way home is mandatory.

Have fun!

The Art Gallery

Oh we love the Art Gallery!

There's nothing better on a rainy day than to spend a pleasant hour or two wandering around the various galleries. My kids are aged 6 and 4 and they really love it too.

We usually park in the basement carpark ($1.10 per half hour). We peruse the downstairs exhibits (the temporary exhibits - by the way, the current Daniel Crooks exhibit is AMAZING! Well worth a visit!) before heading upstairs to the more permanent rooms.

There is a gallery set aside especially for kids, with plenty of interactive activities for them. It's great (not to mention educational)!

But even the main galleries are well worth a wander. My kids enjoy taking in all the different types of artworks, trying to decide what the picture is of, or what the artist was thinking when he or she made it.

There's a cafe downstairs if you fancy a snack (although to tell the truth, we avoid it when we have the kids with us as it just seems too fancy and I'm scared they'll break something!). There's also a gift shop which sells all sorts of exciting things (I was very excited to see my favourite painting on a gift card, mine for the very reasonable sum of $3).

Occasionally the gallery has shows and concerts on in the gallery foyer - last week we happened across a fantastic brass band concert, another time we came upon a hiphop dancing show.

And of course, admission is free - fantastic!

Visit the Art Gallery's website for more information on current exhibits and other bits and pieces.

The Art Gallery is in the central city, on Montreal Street, between Worcester and Gloucester Streets (the carpark entrance is off Gloucester Street).