24-08-2011 & 25-08-2011 (Day 1): LCCT, Kuala Lumpur -> Christchurch (8695km, 12:00 hours flight)
Attraction: Christchurch
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, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch.
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. Some early writers called the town Christ Church, but it was recorded as Christchurch in the minutes of the management committee of the association.[2] Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand.
The river that flows through the centre of the city (its banks now largely forming an urban park) 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.[2]
The usual Māori name for Christchurch is Ōtautahi ("the place of Tautahi"). This was originally the name of a specific site by the Avon River near present-day Kilmore Street and the Christchurch Central Fire Station. The site was a seasonal dwelling of Ngāi Tahu chief Te Potiki Tautahi, whose main home was Port Levy on Banks Peninsula. The Ōtautahi name was adopted in the 1930s. Prior to that the Ngāi Tahu generally referred to the Christchurch area as Karaitiana,[3] a transliteration of the English word Christian. The city's name is often abbreviated by New Zealanders to Chch.
Accommodation: The Old Countryhouse
26-08-2011 (Day 2): Christchurch -> Arthur’s Pass (160km, 3:00 hours drive)
Attraction: Arthur’s Pass National Park
Arthur's Pass, previously called Camping Flat then Bealey Flats, and for some time officially Arthurs Pass, is a township in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, located in the Selwyn district. It is a popular base for exploring Arthur's Pass National Park.
Arthur's Pass township is about 5 km south of the mountain pass with the same name. Its elevation is 740 metres above sea level surrounded by beech forest. The Bealey River runs through the township
Accommodation: YHA Arthur’s Pass (Mountain House)
27-08-2011 (Day 3): Arthur's Pass -> Hokitika -> Franz Josef (226km, 4:30 hours drive)
Attraction: Franz Josef
Franz Josef is a small town in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. Whataroa is 32 km to the north-east, and the township of Fox Glacier is 23 km to the south-west. State Highway 6 runs through the town. The Waiho River runs from the Franz Josef Glacier to the south, through the town, and into the Tasman Sea to the north-west.[1][2]
The population was 330 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 9 from 2001.[3]
The town is named after the Franz Josef Glacier - itself named by Julius von Haast in honour of the Emperor of Austria Franz Josef I of Austria. The glacier's terminal face is 5 km from the town and its accessibility makes it a major tourist attraction and the reason many people visit Franz Josef. The town is located within the Westland Tai Poutini National Park.
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