Timeline
08:15
Pick up animal-shaped bread and cookies from Aha Wildlife Bakery. The kiwi and whale shapes are a local favorite.
08:30
Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial
Walk to the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial. Stand beside the Avon River, just downstream from Montreal St, and take in the silence of the space dedicated to those lost in the 2011 earthquake.
09:30
Head to Ilex Café in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens for a coffee. It is open from 09:00, so you can sit down and enjoy the 30 hectares of exotic and indigenous plants wrapped in the loop of the Avon River.
Local tip
The Botanic Gardens are best explored in the morning when they are quietest. Ilex Café is just a two-minute walk from the gardens' main paths.
Check before you go
- Aha Wildlife Bakery is open daily from 07:00 to 18:00.
- Ilex Café is open from 09:00 to 17:00 between September and May.
Built from places in the Wikivoyage guide to Christchurch (CC BY-SA 4.0), with open map data from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).