By Guest Blogger: Rachel McRae
Rachel visited Christchurch for a family holiday with her husband and two young children (2 and 4), and stayed at North South Holiday Park.
Taking the kids on holiday can be wonderful – as well as tiring and challenging! It can also require a little more prep, especially with preschoolers. This guide is full of recommendations from our week in Christchurch with small kids. Read on to find the best places to go, things to see, and some key parenting tips on getting the most out of your Christchurch experience with kids.
Renting a Car
If you’re flying into Christchurch, there are a bunch of rental car places based near the airport. We chose to use RaD due to their great value car seat hire, at $40 per car seat.
On arrival, their shuttle collected us from the airport and took us to our waiting rental car 5 minutes away. The kids loved having a ‘new car’, and I was impressed with the quality of the car seats that were well-fitted before our arrival. On our return home at the end of the trip, we drove 2 minutes from our Christchurch accommodation to the RaD depot, and the friendly team shuttled us back to the airport in time for our departing flight.
Parenting Tip: Leave your car seats at home so you don’t need to lug them through airports, and book the car seats in advance and they have them fitted in the car ready to go on your arrival.
Visit Orana Park
Highlights
– Hand feeding the giraffes lunch (included in admission price)
– See New Zealand’s only gorillas – such a hit with the kids
– Safari Shuttle with tour guide (included in admission)
This has to be one of the best Zoos in New Zealand – more like a farm with expansive wide-open spaces. Located not far from Christchurch Airport, it is well sign posted and easy to get to. Set over 80 hectares, Orana Park is home to more than 90 different species of animals. These include White Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, Meerkats, Otters, Spider Monkeys, Tasmanian Devils, Gorillas, Cheetahs, Tigers, Lions, and New Zealand favourites the Tuatara, Kea and Kiwi!
There is so much space to run and play, you can easily spend a whole day here with the kids. A lifesaver for the legs is the Safari Shuttle, a hop-on hop-off service that laps the park, with a full circuit taking 25 minutes. We found this great to do first to get your bearings and hear about the animals from the knowledgeable tour guide, then see which animals you want to go back to.
At 12 o’clock every day there is a giraffe feeding – this is worth the entire park entry for, and is a must do! Wait for the keepers who let you up on the platform with some shrubbery in hand, and hand feed the giraffe their lunch. The kids were so stoked they had fed a giraffe and were quick to tell everyone we met afterwards.
There are picnic tables and plenty of places to eat if you bring a packed lunch. There is also an extensive playground with a flying fox, plus a café with stunning views of the giraffes if you want to have ice creams, coffee, or something more substantial. Stroller hire was available for only $10 extra which was perfect for the two-year-old, or you can hire a double stroller for $20.
Parenting Tip: Take lunchboxes to eat by the playground, then visit the café for an afternoon pick me up when the energy levels start to wane.
Estimated Time To Allow: A full day (or as long as possible before you are all exhausted!)
Opening Hours: 10am – 5pm Daily
Website: oranawildlifepark.co.nz
Experience The International Antarctic Centre
Highlights
– Penguin Feeding at 10:30am and 3pm
– The 4D movie that takes you to Antarctica was a big highlight with the kids
– Indoor, all-weather activity close to the airport
The penguins you’ll see are Little Blue Penguins that have been injured in New Zealand waters and rehabilitated. The penguin feeding and the keeper talk was great, and is included in admission. Note that there are no Antarctic penguins at this facility (i.e. Emperor, King or Gentoo penguins).
There is a lot of information in the Antarctic Gallery displays and exhibits that would have been great to read, however with preschool age children they didn’t have much tolerance for this. The 4D movie of an ice voyage is highly recommended. Also included in admission, this runs regularly throughout the day. In addition to the 3D glasses, your seats move, wind blows in your face, and you feel the mist as you pass giant icebergs along the voyage.
Parenting Tip: There are limitations for younger kids on what you can do – you need to be 1.2m height for riding on the Hägglunds all-terrain Antarctic vehicle. The kids also need to be aged over 8 to do the Penguin backstage experience.
Estimated Time To Allow: 2 – 3 hours (ensure you time the penguin feeding in there)
Opening Hours: 9am – 4:30pm Daily
Website: iceberg.co.nz
Play Mini Golf At Alice In Putterland
Highlights
– Amazing atmosphere that the kids loved more than the golf itself
– Dark zone where everything glows neon
– Friendly, family focused and super welcoming team
Head over to the suburb of New Brighton by the seaside and stop in for 18 holes of indoor mini golf. The place has been cleverly transformed into the magical world of Alice and Wonderland, with delights at every stop for the kids to be entertained. After completing the first part of the course in ‘daylight’ you are transported into the darkness where everything glows in the dark.
So much magic for the little people, they wanted to stay all day regardless of the golf!
Parenting Tip: Perfect for a rainy day as indoors, warm and dry.
Estimated Time To Allow: 1 – 2 hours
Opening Hours: 10am – 6pm Daily
Website: aliceinputterland.com
Explore Christchurch City On The Tram
Highlights
– All day pass, hop on and off as many times as you like
– Experiencing the different aged trams with different designs
– The highly knowledgeable tram drivers share information about the journey along the way
– Fantastic places to stop, including the Margaret Mahy Playground
We earmarked a day to explore the city and see how the rebuild is progressing. There turned out to be no better way than to do this by tram! The kids loved the novelty, the adults loved the commentary, and each stop had fantastic things to see and do. The Margaret Mahy Playground was developed in 2015, and is the largest playground in the Southern Hemisphere. The kids LOVED running between each activity. There is something perfect for all ages including water play, sand play, multiple slides, flying fox, and climbing frames – the kids could of stayed here all day. This park really is what kids’ dreams are made of!
Another stop featured the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. It has wide open spaces for running and playing, a great playground, and even a kids paddling pool. We recommend packing lunch boxes to enjoy in the gardens at your leisure.
Christchurch Cathedral is central to the tram tour and a great way to hear and see the progress of the rebuild. The tram also provides easy access to visit the Christchurch city library (Tūranga), Christchurch Art Gallery, and Canterbury Museum.
Parenting Tip: Save tired legs and explore the city by tram – with so much to discover at each stop. The full tour takes approximately 50 minutes, and you only need to hop off where interests you. Trams run every 10-20 minutes throughout the day.
Estimated Time To Allow: Half a day to a full day, depending where you want to stop and explore
Opening Hours: 9am – 5pm Daily (Last tram departs 4pm)
Website: christchurchattractions.nz/christchurch-tram
Discover Lyttelton
Highlights
– Lyttelton Road Tunnel
– Lyttelton Market – Saturday mornings 10am-1pm
– The Port Lookout to watch all the activity (Sumner Road Lookout)
We chose a Saturday morning to take a drive to Lyttelton and explore the quaint seaside town. The kids loved the tunnel on the way there (almost 2km long). The Saturday morning market from 10am – 1pm was also perfect to wander around, with lots of food, arts and crafts being sold by locals from the area. After wandering the markets, we found a wonderful café to rest and refuel, with live music being played right outside. After exploring the village, we drove a short 5 minutes to the Sumner Road lookout, where the kids loved watching the port activity from high above. There were ships being loaded and unloaded, containers being moved around, and vehicles whizzing along. Great for discussions with the kids about boats, transport, what is in the containers etc.
Parenting Tip: Lyttelton was a 30-minute drive from our Christchurch accommodation at North South Holiday Park – the perfect amount of time in the car for a power nap for two tired kids.
Estimated Time To Allow: Half a day
Website: lytteltoninfocentre.nz
Visit Akaroa For The Day
Highlights
– Stunning French town, great architecture steeped in history
– Akaroa Museum
– Akaroa Lighthouse
We decided to explore some family history and visit Akaroa for the day, and we are so glad we did. The little French town is stunning, impeccably clean and tidy, with wonderful architecture and cute gardens throughout. On arrival we drove down to take a look at the lighthouse (a must see for the 4 year old) followed by heading to the Akaroa Museum. Because the museum has free entry, we had pretty low expectations, only to be blown away! There were heaps of areas that interested the kids, including the early settler exhibits. They loved seeing what a telephone system looked like back in those days. There were also two preserved heritage buildings: the Akaroa Court House and Custom House, which allowed a look into how people would have lived in the early settler days. We wandered the town exploring the shops, found a fabulous seaside playground, and many great little spots to eat. The afternoon was spent exploring, followed by ice creams in the sun watching paragliders come down to land.
Parenting Tip: Pack lunchboxes, pack up the car, and enjoy a scenic day out.
Estimated Time To Allow: A full day, as Akaroa is a 1.5 hour drive from Christchurch (but so worth it)
Website: visitakaroa.com/destinations/akaroa
Choose Family Friendly Accommodation
Highlights
– Swimming pool, playground and jumping pillow on site
– Full kitchen and bathroom in unit
– Wide open spaces to run and play
– Lots of games to borrow
Staying at North South Holiday Park in Christchurch was simple and easy. It was close to the airport, rental car depots, Orana Park, and the Antarctic Centre. Booking a room with a kitchen made the stay even easier, as we could cook meals and prep lunchboxes to avoid having to eat out for every meal. We ordered all our groceries in advance, so we could just pick them up as soon as we arrived in Christchurch. No need to wander around the supermarket with tired kids after a long trip!
We stayed in the 2 Bedroom House, a modern unit that has been refurbished relatively recently. One bedroom had a Super King bed for the adults, and the other had two sets of bunks for the kids. Great for being able to get some sleep without all being in the same room! The private bathroom in the unit also made it easy with kids still learning toilet training, and the deck and outdoor space was a wonderful place to play and connect as a family.
The team at North South Holiday Park have games you can borrow from reception or the games room. We had lots of fun with balls and a badminton set on the back lawn of our ‘house’. Each afternoon when back from exploring Christchurch and its surrounds, we headed for the heated swimming pool and playground to unwind together and have more fun as a family. The kids loved the giant jumping pillow, the old school horse rocker, and the swings. They even convinced us to borrow some trikes from reception and pedal them around the park for the afternoon!
The relaxed atmosphere, friendly team, and awesome facilities made this the perfect play to stay as a family with small kids in Christchurch.
Parenting Tip: Book accommodation with a kitchen, and order groceries online for either delivery or pick up when you arrive in Christchurch. Then you can make dinners, lunches, and lunchboxes easily to save on hassle and costs when out and about.
