Wet and wild about Canterbury

BY EMILY WATT

I will probably get hate mail for admitting this, but ever since my university days in Christchurch, I have viewed the city as a good place to get out of. This is both an indictment on the city and a compliment for the magnificent adventure playground on its doorstep and beyond.

A recent trip, however, made me change my mind. Canterbury has a lot to offer, with mountains, rivers, coast, adventure and adrenaline, but the Garden City has blossomed too, with great boutique shopping, good nightlife and fantastic coffee. With cheap flights regularly available, you have a bit more in the budget to enjoy it all.

We decide to spend our first night out of town with a little indulgence. We pick up a hire car at the airport and head out to Terrace Downs, a luxury lodge at the base of Mt Hutt.

An hour from town, Terrace Downs was set up as a golfing resort for Japanese tourists, but is now extending its appeal for weekend visitors. The golf is still available, with small, green golf carts futzing around the majestic grounds stretching to the Rakaia Gorge, but there is a wide range of other activities, from claybird shooting, horse riding, mountain biking, jet boat tours, spa treatments and nature walks. In winter, they offer a helicopter shuttle to Mt Hutt for $65 one way.

I try my eye at archery, and having sent a volley of arrows flying into the trees beyond (it's quite amazing how far they go), I retire to the sunny deck for a glass of Charles Wiffen Pinot Gris and a touch of sunburn. This is the way to holiday.

While the club house is a little tired and the fine-dining restaurant not quite up to par, the self-contained apartments are set away from the main clubhouse and sumptuously appointed with huge three-person beds, spa baths and their own decks from which to watch the sun set. At $424 for a couple getaway including breakfast and a spa treatment, it's an indulgent romantic escape. It is also a popular wedding venue.

The next morning, we head further south to the Rangitata River to bounce down some grade-five rapids in a blow- up rubber raft. After a lunch of filled rolls and cups of tea, we are provided with a slew of polypropylene, polar- fleece, neoprene, and splash jacket that promises to be about 5 per cent waterproof. After a bus ride and briefing that involves classic phrases, such as "There's no P in wetsuit" and "We'll just stop here and get some photos and dental records", the seven terrified novices are in the rafts. Our guide, Raana, is a man small in stature, but he manhandles the raft and our future with the might of a colossus.

The sun is out as we drift down the stunningly aqua river, the golden landscape passing at a gentle pace, until we hit the rapids and all hell breaks loose. We paddle furiously, get dunked in the drink (I'm pretty sure Raana upended us on purpose), paddle some more, get flung about as the raft bucks beneath us, have a swim, and return for a barbecue at the lodge with a sense of accomplishment as if we had conquered Mt Everest. My cheeks hurt from grinning.

The rafting trip can be done as a day trip from Christchurch. A return trip in a shuttle bus is just $10 on the $185 price, which includes lunch and a barbecue afterwards.

Back in Christchurch, we settle in to Hotel Grand Chancellor which, sitting on an apex of High St, is hard to beat as a base for checking out the city.

My room is light and comfortable, with 270-degree views. A hotel room is a hotel room, but I am drawn to the Grand Chancellor because of its sustainability programme. Guests can opt out of having their room cleaned, which saves water and so on, and the staff hours the hotel saves on cleaning are put into eco- volunteering, with staff going out to the Port Hills and clearing gorse.

I get up early the next day and go for a run amid the heady scent of rhododendrons in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and spend the afternoon shopping in High St, wandering through the french markets and drinking bubbly in the sun up Poplar Ln, an old warehouse area filled with bars and art galleries, all a stone's throw from the hotel. That evening, we wander down to the Arts Festival to watch outdoor theatre. Christchurch has a lot of events, arts and theatre during the year, and it's worth checking out what's on before you plan a trip.

Another good escape option is an easy two hours' drive northwest to Hanmer Springs, with the famous hot pools, beautiful scenery and a slightly twee alpine-village feeling.

A payoff for cheap flights is you can splash out a little on accommodation - just as female accounting calculates that if you buy a pair of shoes on sale, you're saving money and can buy something else too. But I don't think anyone is going to quibble when it means they get to stay at Braemar Lodge.

The Spa Suites ($255 a night) are huge and beautifully decorated with all the appurtenances you might need: wireless internet, a flat-screen TV, an i-Pod dock, a huge two-person spa bath, a shower with numerous jets (tip: listen to the operating instructions when you arrive - intuition alone cannot control eight jets of water) and a personal spa on the deck outside with views across the valley below. And the restaurant is top-notch.

I don't want to go anywhere, but I'm persuaded to venture out to the hot pools where we indulge in a chocolate body wrap. This involves stripping down, being smothered in chocolate, wrapped in plastic wrap and lying in blissful warmth while the chocolate mix bubbles on your skin, followed by a shower and a massage. My therapist, Lisa, is planning a career change and studies law at the University of Canterbury during the week. I'm certain that a utilitarian calculation to maximise world happiness comes down firmly in favour of her forgetting law and continuing to smother blissed-out travellers in chocolate.

To balance the indolence, I also bungy jump off a 135-year old bridge and take a jet boat ride down the aquamarine Waiau River, skimming close to the rocks which rise vertically in places. Thrillseekers Adventures offers multi-deals. My double-barrelled adrenaline fix costs $225.

To top off the weekend, we have a vineyard lunch at Mud House on our way back to Christchurch. It's worth taking some time to do a wine tasting here, because Mud House has married Waipara Hills, and you can sample both labels and make regional comparisons from Hawke's Bay to Marlborough, Otago to the Waipara Valley. The gourmet pies are great too.

- © Fairfax NZ News