Christchurch is known as the garden city, and as you wander around you will discover the abundance of trees and plants that give an earthly character to the city. If you are looking for a bush walk, Christchurch has some great options. We highly recommend going on a bush adventure. Here are some ideas of options easily accessed from the Old Countryhouse and well worth adventuring to on your Christchurch holiday.
Riccarton Bush Walk:
This walk is great for any abilities, just 2km from start to finish and a lovely place to take a picnic. We put this on the list because Riccarton Bush is a unique oasis hidden in the centre of the city. When you start the walk you will enter through a tall fence, the reason for this is that this small piece of New Zealand is home to a large variety of native flora and fauna. As you enter you ears will tingle to the melodies of some happy native birds, safe and sound within the enclosed areas away from local cats and other pests. The main bird found within the Riccarton bush is the New Zealand wood pigeon also known as kereru. You will also find some other native and introduced birds that make their home in the native bush area. As you wander through, you will also be surrounded by native New Zealand bush. The track has plenty of signs that will give you information about the park. New Zealand plants are very unique and well worth studying as you wander this great walk!
The Bottle Lake Forest Walk:
Bottle Lake forest is a dense forest on the edge of the beach made up of a maze of walking tracks, biking tracks, and horse riding tracks. The Christchurch city council site recommends walkers/runners to do the Bottle Lake blue loop. This is an 11.4km walk through the forest that can be adapted to suit a short length of walk. You will be surrounded by bush while you walk over sand and pine needles. The surroundings of forest and distant sound of waves makes for a great experience, and well worth the visit.
Avon river loop & cemetery walk:
Wander up Stanmore road from the Old Countryhouse, and you will find this 4km walk along the Avon River. This walk will take you towards the city beside the meandering river surrounded by nature and bush. A great walk if you want a bit of peace in the city. On completing the full loop, you will also go past Barbadoes street cemetery where many prominent Cantabrians are buried. You also pass through the “red zone”, where many homes have been demolished deemed irreparable after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. This is a great walk to see how Christchurch is moving forward, and also so close to the Old Countryhouse you might as well just check it out!!
We have named a few great walks in and around Christchurch over our last few blog posts, however this city has so many more great walks and outdoors activities. If you are planning to stay in Christchurch a bit longer, we recommend to start doing some of these adventures and let us know your favourite walk in Christchurch! Either way come and have a chat with us and we will encourage you to get those hiking boots on!!
