Car rental Christchurch, New Zealand

Car rental Christchurch – Must Know

Drive on the left-hand side of the road. Unless in a one-way street, it is unlawful to stop on the right hand side of the road - as well as being especially dangerous for those drivers coming from countries where folks drive on the right! If you are used to driving on the right, take particular care when pulling out from driveways or when you are tired. It is very easy to have a lapse of concentration and to revert to habit.

Attractions in Christchurch

Arts Centre

An enclave of Gothic Revival buildings (built from 1877), it was the original site of Canterbury College, which later became Canterbury University and you can easily visit it by your car rental vehicle. Before the earthquakes, the Arts Centre was a popular cultural precinct comprising artists' studios and galleries, weekend craft markets, restaurants and cinemas. One business still operating from a modern building within the Arts Centre is the excellent Canterbury Cheesemongers.

Botanic Gardens

Grab your car rental Christchurch to visit the Botanic Gardens which comprise 30 riverside hectares planted with 10,000-plus specimens of indigenous and introduced plants. There are conservatories and thematic gardens to explore, lawns to sprawl on, and a cafe at the Botanic Gardens visitors centre. Guided walks depart daily at 1.30pm from the Canterbury Museum, or you can ride around the gardens in the electric Caterpillar train.

International Antarctic Centre

The International Antarctic Centre is part of a huge complex built for the administration of the NZ, US and Italian Antarctic programs. See penguins and learn about the icy continent via historical, geological and zoological exhibits. There’s also an aquarium of creatures gathered under the ice in McMurdo Sound. When you come here on your car rental vehicle you will see a '4D' theatre – a 3D film plus moving seats and a watery spray.

Canterbury Museum

Take your car rental Christchurch and visit the absorbing Canterbury Museum which has a wonderful collection of items of significance to NZ. Highlights include the Maori gallery, with some stunning pounamu (greenstone) pieces on display; the coracle in the Antarctic Hall that was used by a group shipwrecked on Disappointment Island in 1907; and a wide array of stuffed birds from the Pacific and beyond.

Orana Wildlife Park

Orana has an excellent, walk-through native-bird aviary, a nocturnal kiwi house, and a reptile exhibit featuring the wrinkly tuatara. You surely must take your car rental vehicle to get there and see most of the grounds are devoted to Africana, including lions, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, lemurs, oryx and cheetahs.