Activities to do in Halswell

1    We loved the 100 days of summer which provided 100 options of things to do around Christchurch and then got thinking about some of the things to do around Halswell.  This list is the result of that thinking.  If you can think of some more options then leave a message in the comments below.  

1.  1. Visit the model railway at the Halswell Domain on a Sunday afternoon and for a small fee, ride the trains.  You might also be lucky enough to see model yachts on the lake or you could hang out and enjoy the skate park, pump track and playground.

2.       Exercise your body and test your map reading skills:  Go orienteering at the Halswell Quarry. You can buy maps from Te Hāpua or download them online.

 
3.       Visit the community garden at St Marys or from the soccer clubrooms in the Domain. 

4.       Take a friend and a ball to the domain and kick or throw it around.

5.       Ride a bike on the Quarrymans Trail cycle path from Te Hāpua to the Sparks Road Wetlands and have a picnic and/ or a walk or ride around the wetlands.

6.       Camp in your back yard and look at the stars while you are out there.

7.       Make a tin and string telephone (look here if you can’t find anyone to tell you how) and check out how well it works with a friend.

8.       Walk around the Crater rim track in the Quarry. Paint some of your own rocks and hide them somewhere on the way.

9.       Walk up Kennedys Bush Track to the Summit Road and see what you can see (it takes 60- 90 minutes to get there).  Start your walk just past the roundabout at the top of Kennedys Bush Rd.   If you like walking, then cross the road at the top and find the tracks leading to the Sign of the Bellbird and Kennedys Bush where there are heaps of other tracks to explore.  Check out views of Whakaraupo/ Lytttelton Harbour.  Can you see Aoraki Mt Cook from the top?

10.   Visit the playground in Kennedys Bush Rd at the end of Quarry Hill Terrace or across the park from Rock Hill Drive. 


11.   Learn to ride your bike at the Knights Stream bike park.

12.   Play on your scooter skateboard or bike in the skate park in Halswell Domain

13.   Visit Halswell Pool and swim a few lengths or play in the water or on the hydroslide.

14.   Check out activities at the Halswell Hub to see if there is anything you’d like to do there.

15.   Check out holiday activities at the Library in Te Hāpua

16.   Explore Country Palms (off Halswell Junction Road or Sabys Road) to see how you can design a great walking or biking route using all the little parks and bridges.

17.   Ride on the Little River Rail link cycleway from Dunbars Rd to Hagley Park.  

18.   Visit the sister city gardens in Halswell Quarry.  What is a sister City and which Sister Cities have gardens in the Quarry?

19.   Forage for fruit and nuts in Halswell (best in late summer or autumn!). 

20.   Read a book, or do some painting under a tree in one of your favourite green spaces. 

21.   Using Google maps, Find all the playgrounds that you can around Oaklands and Westlake.  Play in them.  Walk or scooter to get between them.

22.   Walk or run around the whole Halswell Domain.  Try drawing a map of it!  

 23.   Make a map of Westlake Park.  How many entrances are there?  Where is the lake?  What are the names of all the streets that have entrances to the Park?  How many buildings are there?

24.   Visit Kaituna valley nature reserve.  What trees can you identify? Pick one to hug!  

25.   Walk around the Wetlands on Quaifes Road opposite Murphys Road –  Check out the ponds and bridges and the native plants there.  Wander further down the road towards Saby's Road and find another wetland area you can walk or bike around.

26.   Visit the skate park at Knights Stream Park and see what you can do there – what is the sculpture there called?

27.   Walk around Awatea Basin (wear gumboots if it is wet)

 

2  28. Go for a bikeride using only quiet streets  and see if you can find shortcuts and walkways to make your route easier.  You might find a good route by looking on google maps then testing it out. 

29.   Park in McMahon Drive and Walk or bike around Canterbury Park/Nga Puna Wai – What tracks can you find? what buildings are in Canterbury Park – what else is there?  Can you find a route out onto the cycleway along the motorway?

30.   Find the Creamery ponds in Sabys Road opposite Candy’s road and check them out.  

31.   Take a dog for a walk around Halswell on the Park using as many of the smaller streets and greenspaces as you can find.

32.   Visit Tai Tapu Domain and walk right around it.  Find the walking bridge across the creek. 

333.   Walk the length of Talbot Reserve in Country Palms through the long grass and back and have a play in the playground.

34.   Follow the Creek from the tunnel under the motorway though the greenspaces of Aidanfield or using the same tunnel to get to some of the green spaces in Wigram.  See if you can find your way through to the shops in Wigram from the tunnel - be careful crossing Wigram Road.

35. Spend an afternoon biking out to Prebbleton or Lincoln on the cycle path starting at Dunbars Road on the Wigram side of the overbridge.

t
36 Check out this post for more local walks

100 DAYS OF SUMMER

 by Chrys Horn

100 Days of Summer is a little brochure that provides 100 great ideas for families interested in exploring Christchurch outdoors. 

Miria Goodwin and her twin sister Anneke Beardsley put the booklet together to help people enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of being outdoors.  Getting outdoors is great for children’s brain development, for social connection and for fostering a connection to nature. 

They aim to encourage people of all stripes to do more outside this summer and enjoy all the many beautiful places Canterbury has to offer.  The guide is also easy to read and carry, and provides a daily pointer that suits all ages.

 

Among the many suggestions are hugging a tītoki tree, looking for dolphins off Godley Head, searching for street art in the city, checking out the Sparks Road Wetlands or visiting the Prebbleton Nature Reserve, or watching model yachts at Halswell Domain.

You can pick up a copy of 100 Days of Summer at any Christchurch City Library or Council Service Centre.

If you are looking for things to do, you might also check out this post for some local ideas.

I wonder if we could come up with  50 free things you can do to explore Halswell?   All ideas gratefully received below in the comments!

Summer wanderings around Halswell

By Chrys Horn

Halswell is blessed by a great range of walks and some great green spaces where you can walk, bike or just hang out, catch up with friend or read a book.
This article highlights a few that might help you get out this summer  (and beyond).

Check out this little known gem in Sabys Rd.  It was the subject of a blog post in 2015 but still there, still the same and it is easy to get to by bike. 

You might also like to look at this Blog post to check out some other options that have already been discussed on this Blog

We have two newly developed wetland areas that are well worth a wander or a bikeride:  

One in Quaifes Road near to where Murphys Road meets it.  There are some lovely plantings in there and some good springs that feed into Knights Stream and eventually into the Hurutini/ Halswell River. This area connects nicely with the green space and water storage area near Longhurst which connects further to greenspace in Longhurst itself.  This means you can walk a good long way in pleasant surroundings and have a coffee in Longhurst to finish it off.  

The second is on the Corner of Hendersons and Sparks Roads.  It is easy to get to using the bike path from Te Hapua which takes you up the side of Sparks Road. 

Of course many will already know about the tracks around the Quarry and the lakes in that area.  It is a popular asset for Halswell and offers great walking, picnicking and coffee. 

If you are looking for something a little more challenging, walking up Kennedys Bush track to the Summit road and on to Kennedys Bush itself,  is a great thing to do and can fill up a good part of the day.  If you choose to take lunch, and there are great views from the top and you can wander all the way along the Summit Road.  
Tracks to the right take you to Ahuriri Bush, while tracks to the left can take you as far as Lyttelton or even Godley Heads, if you want a good day's walk and can organise transport back (buses are a good option from Lyttelton). For fit people or people on bikes who are going a bit faster it is quite possible to walk to Lyttelton and back in a longish day.  Biking also is a great thing to do via Kennedys Bush Track and you can go for miles once you are at the top.  The article above also makes some observations and suggestions re this route. 

There are some wonderful walks around Aidanfield and you can walk quite a way down the greenspace of the upper Heathcote starting in Wigram coming under the motorway into Aidanfield and following along the river.  Across Aidanfield Drive a track takes you along the river next to the School and onto the tracks in Canterbury Park and through to Curletts Road.  

Happy walking and biking!

Transport around Halswell - what to do?

Halswell has a range of transport issues. 

• As anyone around Halswell will know, congestion on Halswell Road is an issue during rush hour.  
• For local schools and for families wanting to get children to and from school safely, the 60km/hr speed limits and lack of adequate crossing points are an issue. 
• Parents who feel compelled to drop their kids off and pick them up from school to keep them safe, have themselves created a major traffic hazard around schools.
• Cyclists have to contend with fast traffic and increasingly angry motorists who don't have any idea how it feels to be on a bike. 
• Pedestrians often have to wait a considerable time before they are able to cross the road safely in places around Halswell.  If you are struggling with mobility issues because of injuries or illness, the problem is even worse.
• For people living down Halswell, and Junction Roads, traffic noise and traffic related pollution is making our place increasingly unpleasant.
• People trying to turn right out of Nichols Road or School Road onto Halswell Road are finding it increasingly difficult to get across even when traffic is not heavy.

Add to this the large developments such as Longhurst and Knights Stream and the continuing development of Aidanfield, and the new Meadowlands development, it is clear that things are set only to get worse for Halswell residents in the near future. 

While each of these have pretty good walking and cycling facilities within each development, as has been the case for areas such as Country Palms, Aidanfield and Halswell on the Park,  there are problems for anyone trying to get between these developments and major community facilities such as schools, shops, sports grounds etc.  

Things that would assist these problems are: 

• Off road cycle paths, which get a few people out of their cars and onto their bikes (even a few more people biking can make a significant difference to traffic congestion for those who choose to stay in their cars).  Cycling is currently the fastest, most efficient way to get from home to town, and many people do enjoy cycling but not when they feel unsafe as a result of the large volumes of car traffic, and a lack of cycle facilities.
• Bus lanes which make it quicker and more pleasant for people who choose to catch a bus rather than take their car.  (Again, even a few more people catching a bus can make a difference to traffic congestion).  However because buses get stuck in traffic, taking the bus is not a great option for people.
• Traffic lights, 
• Pedestrian refuges and safe routes to school
• Lower speed limits in some areas

The space taken up on our roads by the same number of cars buses bikes and pairs of feet

Sadly at this point, and despite the development here, there are no plans for any of these things in the Lincoln/Halswell Road area in the foreseeable future.  The off road cycle path that is planned as part of the new Christchurch cycle network, is planned to go up Sparks Rd.  The new cycle path along the southern motorway is not that useful for anyone living in Halswell wanting to get to work.  It would be good for those moving into the Knights stream area if Junction Road were not so unsafe for cyclists.  If we want to see good transport infrastructure around this area, we need to be taking some action and we need to do it soon.

If you have concerns about these things, a good thing to do is to write to the Riccarton-Wigram Community Board and the Christchurch City Council. Alternatively you could ring them.  Encourage your friends to do the same!  You could also get in contact with the Halswell Residents Association, who have asked the Council to do a transport plan for the area to manage the issues that we are already facing.

Without this kind of action, very little is likely to happen to sort out our suburb's transport issues.