I don't like Christchurch... I love it!
The Port Hills over looking Lyttelton Harbour towards Diamond Harbour in Christchurch photo by Sunstone
Growing up for me in Christchurch has always been about the sea to mountains and everything in between. I didn’t realise how lucky we have it here until I went travelling.
I'm lucky enough to live 15 mins from an international airport, 25 mins to the beach, 1.5 hours to skiing and 10mins to the centre of town. I’ve actually driven to meetings in central Christchurch twice in 7 minutes in the past 2 weeks.
Last year I was lucky enough to participate in a thought leadership process run by the CDC (Canterbury Development Corporation) working out some of the attractive things about work & living in Christchurch….these are some of the things that we came up with:
***Clean air & pure water
***Peaceful / safe atmosphere
***Good schools
Christchurch Boys' High School photo by Sunstone
***Three Universities
***The 'Garden City’ - has many local green spaces / parks / gardens
***Access to the outdoors - surrounding foothills of Canterbury
***An International Airport with direct links to China, Taiwan, Thailand, Fiji, Rarotonga, Australia & Singapore
***A vibrant IT industry & community
***Lots of parks, swimming pools and safe outdoor spaces
***Line dried washing!
Sumner Beach, Christchurch photo by Sunstone
***Great housing options including lifestyle blocks / new housing
***Lots of great stuff for retirees - bowling greens, croquet, cycling, walking
***It's flat so it's very easy to bike around but we also have the Port Hills
***Loads of tramping (hiking) & mountain biking with a new $20M MTBike park planned to open this December
***Minimal traffic - you can just about get anywhere across ChCh within 20 mins
***Great cafes, bars, pubs (Craft beer scene) & restaurants
***Arts & Culture - musical theatre / opera / rock gigs
View from Roys Peak, Lake Wanaka photo by Sunstone
***Lots of team sports - cricket, soccer, rugby, netball, hockey, tennis etc
***How many golf courses do we have in the Canterbury Region? 40 Something?
***Thousands of rockclimbing routes
***We have a harbour which is ideal for sailing / boating / kayaking / paddle boarding
***Beaches for diving, sunbathing, surfing, boating, fishing, camping
***Mountains 1 hour away for hiking (1000 backcountry huts across the South Island), skiing / snowboarding
***An estuary for wind surfing
***The opportunity to get a decent house with a garden near local amenities
***Fantastic work / life balance with short commute times - many people bike to work!
***The gateway to the South Island
We have just about everything....
Check out the recent video just launched on Christchurch….CLICK HERE
Paul is founder of sunstonetalent.com an IT Recruitment & HR Consultancy based in Christchurch, South Island of New Zealand.
paul@sunstonetalent.com