Exceptional Travel Writing
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I had no intention of going further. From the air Christchurch looked very inviting. The English style patchwork quilt of farmland on the Canterbury Plains stretched almost to the western horizon. Here majestic snowcapped peaks rose abruptly, reminding me of Samuel Butler's Erewhon, inspired by this very vista. |
To
the east, a very Pacific Ocean lapped gently on endless beaches of golden
sand. English gentlemen, who were determined to reconstitute Victorian
England in the Antipodes, founded Christchurch in 1850. In fact, someone
once said that if an English nanny and an English butler were to sit down
and design a country they would come up with New Zealand.
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Christchurch
is known as the most English city outside of England. Here you will
see punting on the willow-lined Avon River, red buses and schoolboys
in straw boaters and white cricket flannels. Christchurch is divided in half by the Avon, a meandering ribbon of tranquility. Walking tracks follow the riverbanks, or you can hire a punt and drift through the Botanic Gardens. The trained boatmen who steer the punts wear straw boaters - a salute to Christchurch's English heritage. |
Curiously,
the Avon River is not named after the Bard's Stratford stream - even though
it was initially called the Shakespeare - nor after the Avon in Christchurch,
Dorset. Scottish settlers outvoted the English and named the river after
the Kilmarnock Avon, which flows into the Clyde.
Today Christchurch is more commonly referred to as the "Garden City."
Fully thirty percent of the land is designated as public parkland or recreational
area. Right downtown is the beautiful 180-hectare (450 acres) Hagley Park.
Immediately adjacent are the Botanic Gardens covering 30 hectares (75
acres).
Dominating downtown is the Gothic Cathedral of Christ, built in 1856.
The height to the top of the cross is 65.5 meters (215 feet). Don't leave
Christchurch without visiting the Arts Center. The buildings date from
1879 and housed the original University of Canterbury. Since 1978 the
Christchurch Arts Center has been a focal point for artists, craftspeople,
musicians and performers. Over 10,000 people visit the site each week.
They come to film showings, theater and ballet productions and to receive
tuition in dance, music and painting. Others come merely to browse in
the book, music and craft shops or to eat in one of the superb ethnic
restaurants. Over 60 organizations have rooms in the Arts Center and individual
studio space is provided for about 70 artists and craftspeople.
CHRISTCHURCH:
THE MOST ENGLISH OF CITIES
was first published in The Sunday News
