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CHC-4 | Christchurch Sightseeing With Best Attractions | 7.00 hrs
Combine a morning tour of Christchurch city and its surrounding areas with the very best of attractions the city has to offer on this shore excursion from Lyttelton, including the Christchurch Tram, Punting on the Avon River and the Christchurch Gondola.
CHC-2 | Christchurch Sightseeing | 4.50 hrs
Enjoy the spectacular views over the plains and Southern Alps and the rebuild of Christchurch all in a tidy half day tour
CHC-6 | Waipara Wine Tour with Winery Lunch | 5.00 hrs
Enjoy Wine tastings, lunch, and the New Zealand countryside, which is well known for the perfect environment for superior wine production.
CHC-3 | Christchurch Sightseeing and Waipara Wine Tour | 7.75 hrs
Experience the grand architecture, beautiful gardens and scenic view points on a city tour of Christchurch followed by a 45 minute drive north to the Waipara Wine Region where you will enjoy tastings at four boutique wineries and a winery lunch.
CHC-5 | Twin Harbours Tour with Wildlife Cruise & Lunch | 8.25 hrs
Travel through the inner bays through Gebbies Pass, past Lakes Ellesmere Forsyth and onto the hilltop overlooking Akaroa Harbour. Enjoy a two-hour nature cruise on Akaroa Harbour and lunch at Bully Hayes. This afternoon visit a cheese factory and stop on the hills overlooking Christchurch for great views of the city and Canterbury Plains.
CHC-S2 | Luxury 4 seat Audi Q7 SUV Private Tour | from 4.00 hrs - 4 persons
Book one of our luxury 4 passenger wagon driven by our experienced Guides. They will discuss the options with you on the day and make sure you see and do what you want, getting you back to the ship in good time.
CHC-S13 | Luxury Mercedes 6 seat private tour | from 4.00 hrs - 6 persons
Book our luxury 6 seater Mercedes V-Class LWB mini van driven by our experienced Guide. They will discuss the options with you on the day and make sure you see and do what you want, getting you back to the ship in good time.
CHC-S3 | Luxury 11 seat private tour | from 4.00 hrs - 11 persons
Book one of our comfortable 11 passenger luxury minibuses, driven by our experienced Guides. They will discuss the options with you on the day and make sure you see and do what you want, getting you back to the ship in good time.
Now that the port at Lyttleton has a new dedicated cruise ship berth most ships will be using this port instead of Akaroa.
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's third-largest urban area. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast. The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848. It was suggested by John Robert Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand.
The Avon river flows through the centre of the city was named Avon at the request of the pioneering Deans brothers to commemorate the Scottish Avon, which rises in the Ayrshire hills near what was their grandfathers farm and flows into the Clyde.
The usual Maori name for Christchurch is Otautahi (the place of Tautahi) and this was a site of seasonal dwelling of Ngai Tahu chief Te Potiki Tautahi, whose main home was Port Levy on Banks Peninsula.
On Saturday 4 September 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Christchurch and the central Canterbury region at 4:35 am. Located near Darfield, west of the city at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), it caused widespread damage to the city and minor injuries, but no direct fatalities.
Nearly six months later on Tuesday 22 February 2011, a second earthquake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck the city at 12:51 pm. It was located closer to the city, near Lyttelton at a depth of 5 km.[ Although lower on the moment magnitude scale than the previous earthquake, the intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be MM IX, among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area. ChristChurch Cathedral lost its spire and widespread damage was caused across Christchurch to buildings and infrastructure already weakened by 4 September 2010 earthquake and its aftershocks. Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, and the total cost to insurers of rebuilding has been estimated at NZ$20-30 billion.
On 13 June 2011 Christchurch was again rocked by two more large aftershocks. A 5.6 at only 9 km (6 miles) deep hit at 1.00 pm in the general location of Sumner, Christchurch. This was followed by another 6.3 at only 6 km (4 miles) deep at 2.20 pm again in the general location of Sumner, Christchurch. This resulted in more liquefaction and building damage. There were further earthquakes on 23 December 2011; the first, of magnitude 5.8 according to the US Geological Survey, 26 km (15 miles) north-east of the city at a depth of 4.7 km, at 13:58, followed by several aftershocks and another earthquake of magnitude 6.0 and similar location 80 minutes later, with more aftershocks expected.
Further aftershocks of lower magnitudes have occured since that time.
Many of the most severly damaged buildings have now been demolished and a major rebuilding program is underway, the exclusion zone [red zone] is being opened up to public access
How will i find my tour guide and vehicle?
If you have a booked a tour then the transport will pick you up at the Information Centre in Lyttleton. there is a FREE shuttle bus that takes you there and it runs every 5 to 10 minutes from the ship.
If i have an activity booked in Christchurch, how do i get there from the ship?
Most cruise ships organise a shuttle bus to the city, the cost varies from ship to ship. You can also take the FREE shuttle bus to the Lyttleton Information centre where you can then either catch the local bus or take a taxi to the city, this will be cheaper in most cases to the ship arranged shuttle bus.
