My first impressions of Christchurch were formed as soon as got off the plane. In the visitors area of the airpot there was a stack of info for stuff to do on the South Island, so I realised that it was the central tourist hub for peopl;e travelling around that part of the country. It wasn't till I got out of the airport and on the shuttle bus to the hostel that I thought that for a city with a relatively small population (about 360,000) the urban area was extremely spread out. And for a sunny summer day, it was damn cold. I was ... (more)