Christchurch is renowned for its stunning gardens, innovative city rebuild, galleries and welcoming vibe. What’s lesser known is its excellent network of cycle trails, which span from the CBD to its outskirts, as Eleanor Hughes discovers.
Previously arriving in Christchurch by bike I’d discovered the city had numerous cycleways and shared paths – over 70km of them in fact – a treat for allowing cyclists to get around the CBD and out to various suburbs. Back for a return visit, I explored some of these offerings and discovered spots I would have missed, had I driven.
Travelling with my own mountain bike, I was good to go, but my companion needed an e-bike. She hired one from Chill Explore in the CBD, and alongside an impressive lineup of everything from road and urban bikes to mountain and electric bikes, they also shuttled us to Little River, around an hour’s drive south on the road to Akaroa, Banks Peninsula in Canterbury. We planned to ride the 60km Little River Rail Trail, one of New Zealand’s Heartland Rides, back to Chill Explore’s premises on Durham Street North.
Little River Rail Trail
Both a cycleway and a walkway from Cathedral Square and Hornby to Little River, this trail follows the old railway line that reached Little River from Lincoln in 1886. Carrying passengers three times a week to Little River (a 2½ hour journey), the train returned with timber, livestock, wool and flax. The line closed in 1962. Today, Little River is a small settlement, with a café, restaurants, art gallery and the old railway station displaying local artisan craft.
We set out on a narrow gravel trail behind the station, where a few old train carriages sit going nowhere. Taking us westward, next to SH75 for a short distance, we head between farm paddocks and alongside Lake Forsyth’s rippling water where black swans paddle.
Tawny hills speckled with dark green trees rise from the lake’s far side. Trailside, wild blackberries proved too tempting and we stop to indulge. The grass is long and blonde around Birdlings Flat, 9.7km from Little River, where the station sign and wooden sleepers (looking like they are part of the railway platform) remain. A straight, flat section leads through this countryside, with hills the colour of lions. Sheep, as still as statues, stare, only scattering from the track when we are a metre or so from them.
The Southern Alps are a mere shadow on the horizon as we approach Lake Ellesmere. Riding over a bridge above a yellowish-green tributary that weaves between long grassed banks, the trail follows the rail embankment. This is slightly raised between the lake and wetlands, where (on the day we passed) mud crackled like crazy paving and motionless heron and pied stilt reflected in elongated puddles.
Apparently, Lake Ellesmere is New Zealand’s largest duck shooting area. Maimais sit in the shallow, brackish water, with one stranded on parched, brown land, with the water (and ducks) a distance away. The lake is renowned for its birdlife, with 168 species recorded, most migratory, and is also home to flounder, trout and whitebait.
With 14km ridden 90-minutes after setting out, we arrive at Kaituna Quarry, where a large rocky outcrop and brick explosives shed remain. Five minutes later, we pass by all that remains of Kaituna Station: the Kaituna signpost.
Leaving the lakeside, we ride between the Canterbury Plains’ bleached farmland and arrive at Motukarara, pushing pedals hard to battle the headwind, with 22km covered. An empty wagon sits on railway lines in front of the cream-painted station, once called Rabbit Island Station.
From Motukarara back to the CBD
Gravel roads, with scarce trail signage, lead to a path alongside the canal-like Halswell River. The trail narrows here to barely a bike width and as we pass, high grass whips at our legs. Raupo, bulrush, flax, cabbage trees and other natives provide shades of bronze and green to the Whakaora Te Ahuriri wetlands. In a four-hectare paddock fed by the Halswell River, they have been constructed to restore the Te Ahuriri Lagoon that was drained in the 19th and 20th Century for agricultural use.
We ride rural roads to Lincoln’s wetlands where we miss a sign and got lost. After retracing, we get back on track emerging onto suburban streets from the stream and bush of Liffey Springs Reserve. Signage was not great and I should have carried reading glasses to magnify the street names on the Christchurch bike map we’d picked up.
We asked other cyclists, went around in circles, and passed by the cute Liffey Cottage built in 1875, and the late 19th Century steepled Lincoln Union Church on James Street. Eventually we left Lincoln behind, cycling the rural Birchs Road 7km dedicated bike path to Prebbleton. We get lost again, finding the signage confusing.
Struggling against the wind as we ride alongside Christchurch’s Southern Motorway, it wasn’t until 5.20pm that we finally returned to Chill Explore, emerging from the lush greenness and peace of South Hagley Park. In hindsight, I think riding to Little River might have been better. Suburbia slightly spoiled the memory of the scenic beauty and peacefulness between Lincoln and Little River.
From City to Sea
Next morning we were back at Chill Explore, hiring an e-bike again. Stu Waddel, founder and director, came up with a few suggestions as to where to head. Taylor’s Mistake and Godley Head were ruled out by my companion when she heard the word ‘hills’. Sumner was too far. We agreed on a loop ride to New Brighton. Stu highlighted the route on the map and stood at his Durham Street North door pointing the direction to take.
Leaving around 11am, we crossed the road, took the bridge over the Avon River and rode alongside it.
Just like Stu said, we passed by the Kate Sheppard Memorial, Mill Island and its waterwheel (the site of an early flour mill), the Bridge of Remembrance’s memorial arch and the marble Earthquake Memorial Wall.
I looked down on a boat being punted along the river in front of the historic Antigua Boat Sheds and headed into Hagley Park. The white Bandsmen’s Memorial Rotunda built in 1926 sat beneath trees turning red and gold; the river reflected autumnal foliage lining its banks. In the Botanic Gardens, we were told we should be walking not cycling. The riverside path disappeared and we asked a groundsman for directions.
We passed by the Antigua Boat Sheds again, this time on the opposite side and heading in the opposite direction – downstream – because the Avon River disgorges on the coast and that’s where New Brighton is. I should have thought of that!
New Brighton bound
An hour after departing Chill Explore we rode by it. I hoped Stu didn’t spot us!
North-east, and keeping the river on our left we cycled past the Margaret Mahy Playground, the Edmonds Band Rotunda (which features on the Edmonds Cookbook) on the opposite side of the river, and a block further east, near Madras Street, the stone Edmond’s Clock Tower (1929).
The trail and quiet suburban streets lead to where the river turns nearly full circle and the Avon Loop. This was home to author Elsie Locke and teacher Robin Duff, both also activists. Seventy-eight homes were demolished here following the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes.
Standing riverside, the small, brick Bangor Street Pumphouse was built in 1907, part of New Zealand’s first underground sewerage system. The Avon River became polluted from waste emptied into street channels which flowed into it.
Along a stretch of river, the heart of Canterbury rowing for over a hundred years, we ride past upturned sculls outside rowing club buildings and watch a single rower in a skiff glide downstream. The Medway footbridge, once crossing the Avon, lies mangled to the side of it. It’s not the only damage in the vicinity of Avonside Drive, part of the Residential Red Zone.
It’s eerie and sobering riding alongside the deserted, barricaded road, potholed and faded, with grass growing in cracks. Trees in lines mark property boundaries, but the houses are gone. A few concrete pads remain amongst mowed grass; streetlight poles have no lights; while power lines still run between power poles. I read John Taylor’s story where his house stood until his death in 2017. Of the 1300 inhabitants in the area, only he remained after the quake, refusing to move.
The trail narrows on the seven flat kilometres remaining to New Brighton. Crossing the river at Wainoni Road, we leave it behind to reach, via suburban roads, the coast and the 300m long New Brighton Pier. Men fish from its far end, waves break on the sandy shore where golden sand sedge keeps sand dunes in place. Along from the pier, He Puna Taimoana, consisting of five hot saltwater pools which opened in 2020, looks out to sea. We should’ve packed swimming gear.
To Ferrymead
Heading south for Ferrymead, we ride the cycle lane over busy bridges, crossing the Avon mouth where it disgorges into Avon Heathcote Estuary and on out to the Pacific Ocean. Homes hug St Andrews Hill, fronting the estuary where the tide is out. Turning inland, onto Bridle Path Road, we ride alongside Heathcote River before entering the green, expansive Ferrymead Park. Home to a golf course, lake and playing fields, the Ferrymead Heritage Park is also situated here. It includes a restored railway line, which ran from Ferrymead to central Christchurch and opened in 1863, part of New Zealand’s first railway. The Heritage Park is home to an early 1900s township with restored cottages, a schoolhouse, church and businesses, and also has displays of early transportation – trams, cars, tractors, etc. Sadly, we were short on time and couldn’t stop.
The Tannery
The cycle path follows a railway line through Woolston’s industrial area alongside the Heathcote River bringing us to The Tannery on Cumnor Terrace. Woolston had a number of tanneries during the late 1800s and by 1916 were processing a million sheepskins per year and turning 1000 hides into leather per week.
Now featuring boutique shops, restaurants and bars, the reddish-brick buildings, with rooflines that sawtooth across the sky, are some of the original tannery buildings some of which possibly date back to the late 1800s. Inside the Atrium, below the high arched roof, mahogany shop fronts, a burgundy tiled floor and stained glass features give it an olde-world feel and charm.
With 5.4km to the city centre remaining, we ride along quiet, suburban Mackenzie Street and the dedicated cycle lanes along Ferry Road and St Asaph Street to turn into Colombo Street. In Cathedral Square straight ahead sits the Cathedral, surrounded by fencing, and still being repaired after earthquake damage. Signage from New Brighton back to the CBD was easy to follow.
We find our way back to Chill Explore around 3.30pm where Stu shakes his head at our confessed hopeless sense of direction. But it had enabled us to add history and scenes to the waterways and rail lines we rode.
Fast Finds
- For camping accommodation: visit nzmca.org.nz
- For rental bikes: chillout.co.nz
- For a Christchurch bike map: ccc.govt.nz/transport/getting-around/cycling/cycling-maps
- He Puna Taimoana (New Brighton hot pools): hepunataimoana.co.nz
Silo Stay, Little River
Wanting to overnight in Little River? Check out the unique, eco-friendly SiloStay accommodation. It consists of brand-new silos lined inside and insulated with wool, with an open industrial style; corrugated iron, steel and timber. A basic kitchen with toolbox kitchen drawers is downstairs along with a table and chairs and the toilet, a sink sitting on the cistern so that handwashing water is recycled to flush the toilet. Upstairs the double bed looks out to a small balcony with a glass window in the roof for stargazing. The shower and handbasin are partitioned off with glass, the towel rails warmed by hot water running through them to the shower. Waste and sewage is broken down by worms.
