Christchurch

Welcome to Christchurch, the largest city on the south island and the second largest city in New Zealand after Auckland. Around 350,000 people live here. It takes its name from the Christ Church college in the University of Oxford in England. Many people call this the Garden City because there are a large number of parks and green areas.

It's not clear exactly when the first European settlers arrived here but it was approximately the 1840s. Just a few years later, in 1856, Queen Victoria declared Christchurch a city. In those days a city could only be a city if the Queen said so!

It was from here that many Antarctic explorations started, including the famous race between Robert Scott and Amunsen. You might remember that Scott arrived after the Norwegian and then all his team died trying to get back. In fact, you can see a statue of Scott here, which was made by his wife.

Anyway, I mention this because surely one of the best attractions in New Zealand is the International Antarctic Centre, right here in Christchurch. It recreates the conditions of the South Pole and there are interactive exhibits to give you a really good idea of what life must be like as a penguin. The best part is the special room where there's a snow machine, and every half an hour an Antarctic storm suddenly starts. The winds reach 40kph and the temperature drops to minus 18! Next time I'll take a coat. After all that icy fun you can then take a ride outside on a Hagglund, which is a type of vehicle they use in the Antarctic. It can do almost anything - go across ice, through water, up very very steep slopes and some say it's even easy to park!

Enough ice and snow. What to do if you want to go out for the evening? Well, get down to Oxford Terrace, Cathedral Square or Cashell Mall. It's here that you'll find all the best bars, cafes and restaurants. If you stay later a lot of these venues become dance clubs, especially in Oxford Terrace, otherwise known as The Strip.

Now, I'm going to quickly tell you one or two local words and phrases which will help you understand things while you're here. 'Kiwi' refers to anything from New Zealand, be it people or customs etc. People will probably call you a 'loopy'. Where I'm from 'loopy' means crazy, but here it means 'tourist'. I don't know what they call a crazy tourist. If you would like to have a swim, don't forget your 'togs', which is your swimsuit. You'll probably want your 'jandals' too, which are your sandals. Finally, if someone says 'get off the grass', it doesn't mean that they want you to get off the grass but it's an exclamation of surprise. For example, "That loopy is swimming without her togs" "Get off the grass"