What actually inspired me to do the story of Godley Head was the old Maori term for the place, ‘Otokitoki’ which means ‘a place of axes’. My imagination was instantly stirred, but it proved to be one of the biggest anticlimaxes since I began to peel back Canterbury’s history almost 3 years ago. Standing like …
Today, locals and Christchurch visitors can take the pleasant ride up to the top of Mount Cavendish on the Christchurch Gondola. The reward is to be able to look out over the patchwork of the greens and browns of the Canterbury Plains and view its capital: Christchurch…New Zealand’s unbreakable garden city. If you are still …
There is very little about the earliest days of Scarborough or who named it as such. What follows is the puzzle I have put together with the few clues left me. George Rhodes arrived at Lyttelton Harbour in 1843 to become an overseer and partner of his elder brother – William Barnard Rhodes – who …
Tauhinu Korokio was the site of an Ngati Mamoe Pa. It was a superior location due to its 360 degree views, its amble wood supply and many water springs. The name came from two native shrubs that grew on what we now call Mt Pleasant. When the Ngai Tahu battled and won over the Nagti …
