My Travel Guide To Christchurch

By Anna

Want a trip to a fun packed and diverse city? Well then get reading because whether your interests lie in history or playing on a fun filled playground you will always have a great time in Christchurch.
Here are my top things to do if you are heading there and if you aren’t I can guarantee you will want to after you have read this.

Transport

London has double decker buses but Christchurch has Trams. Trams are an excellent way to get around the city,with 17 stops around the centre of Christchurch you can get on and off whenever you please. Sick of waiting for your bus to arrive? Christchurch tramways guarantee a maximum of 15 minutes waiting time so you can count on being punctual. Don’t worry about a slow tedious journey because you also get a free commentary of Christchurch City as you get from A to B. All of this comes under a price of $25 for adults and it’s free for kids.

Entertainment

Every city has a museum,but Christchurch’s is second to none. The museum has things to do for all ages. For the younger ones the museum has a discovery centre and with just $2 entree fee you can enjoy lots of interactive activities. Discovery is based on the wonders of our animals and as well as heaps of fun it also poses a learning side. For the older years Christchurch museum has a range of exhibits such as the Paua house and the indoor Christchurch streets. This is where you can walk around the Christchurch streets that they have built in the museum. This gives you a great idea of what Christchurch would have been like. The museum also has lots of special exhibits that come and go. This offers a variety of options to interest all ages.

Kids Entertainment

In my experience with playgrounds Christchurch's Margaret Mahy playground is my NO.1. The playground is a new addition to Christchurch and it definitely has all the mod cons of the playground world! Such as a eight metre long spiraling slide with an awesome spider web climb to the top. Don't forget the three metre wide slide,so you can race all your friends…. and parents forget the long wait for your kids as the play because along the side of the playground there is pop up cafes,smoothie bars and ice cream stands.

Food and Shopping

People use recycled bottles to make boats but Christchurch has taken recycling to another level. The Re:Start city mall is made out of vibrantly coloured shipping containers! The Re:Start mall has a range of shops from wood fired pizzas to designer clothes shopping. The Re:Start city mall has things for all ages and has things for all people's interests. The Re:Start mall is easy walking distance from the tram stop so don't worry about parking.

Now you know all the top spots in Christchurch and there still is plenty more!

Anna’s Quick Guide to a Successful Camp Cook

By Anna

If you want to become an expert in camp food cooking,pay attention because by the time you have finished reading this your mind will be so bursting with information that it will be spilling out your ears(not literally).

So imagine, you are going on camp for 4 days and 3 nights and in your groups of 4-5 you had to come up with a menu for that period of time. This means that you have to cook 3 breakfasts,3 lunches and 3 dinners with a budget of $30 per person. This is the situation that we found ourselves in when we went on our camp to Omakau. I was in a group of 5 people which meant we had a budget of $150.

Looking back we probably were a little too serious about saving money and cutting costs. Now at this you might ask,why? Why didn’t we spend all of our budget? Now this is where our logic came in! We were allowed on one day to buy our lunch in town,this meant that we had to save enough money for 5 of us to buy lunch in the most expensive part of Christchurch!

Steps For Planning:

1. Talk with your group and discuss what food you like or dislike. Also discuss any allergies that might affect your menu.
2. Create a graph that shows what you will be eating and who will be cooking it. (Make sure your graph is easy to read)
3. Source any recipes(if you need) so that you can work out the quantities
4. Create a list of the ingredients that you are going to buy and price them out.
5. Add up the money you will be spending and compare it to your budget. You might find that you have to change some of the things you are buying so you are not overspending

My Top 3 Tips:

1. When you are deciding what to eat make sure that you keep in the back of your mind that you are not going on a 10 day tramp and need to pack lightly. Mrs Hannah kindly reminded us that we can eat like kings as long as it is within our budget.
2. It depends how confident your cooks are but we found it helpful when we had a assistant to help us out. This is helpful for things like setting the table for eating later on.
3. Have some basic kitchen rules for all groups to follow. Sometimes it can get a bit hectic in the kitchen so it is important to clean up after yourself.

If you follow all of those steps you will be able to have a successful camp cook! It is also helpful to check out your camp's facilities because who wants to get to camp and discover they don’t have an oven! Good luck and happy cooking,you will be creating masterchef dishes in no time!