Christchurch

I've lived in Christchurch for the last year, minus a few months in India and Europe. We picked a pretty bad time to move to Christchurch really, and in a way, the year has been dominated by the earthquakes. Even before the quakes, Chch was not as nice a city as Wellington, so my list here of things I've liked about Chch was always going to be shorter than last year's, but with the quakes closing the city centre for pretty much the whole year, it has been a bit bleak. Anyway, I don't want to dwell on the negatives, so without further ado, here is my list of things I'll miss about Chch.

Castle Hill - Far and away the best bouldering in NZ. Flock Hill is total classic, Quantum Field and Spittle Hill are good when you want something a bit different. I still haven't really got the hang of climbing on limestone, but it's still a lot of fun. And the whole area is amazingly beautiful. Also, Cave Stream on a summers day is lots of fun.

Snowboarding - I started learning this year, and it is so much fun. And there are so many ski-fields around Christchurch, it's amazing, and they're good and not too busy, and some of them even serve good coffee. Oh, and you can get a season pass for all of them for not very much money, how awesome is that?

C4 - Amazing coffee. Really, their flat whites are the best I've tasted, and consistent too, all but one coffee I've had in a year have been perfect, and the one was still above average.

Lyttelton - Before the quake at any rate, Lyttelton was a really nice town, loved the character and the cafes and bars around the main street. I really hope it comes back with the rebuild.

The Bodhi Tree - Burmese restaurant in Ilam, one of the few city centre restaurants that managed to relocate, but a really good one. I'd not had Burmese food before, and I'd been missing out. Some nice wines too.

RDU - Good radio.

Sweet Kitchen - Behind Merivale mall, good (but expensive) cakes,

Bank's Peninsula - Not really in Chch, but close enough, the roads to Diamond Harbour or Akaroa are brilliant for riding a motorbike. And it's very pretty, and Akaroa is a really cool little town. I imagine the peninsula would be a great place to chill out and do nothing for a few days.


So, lets see what Auckland is like...