Christchurch View of Canterbury Plains

The Canterbury area was long settled before British explorer Captain Cook sighted New Zealand in the 1770s. The vast plains set between the mountains and the sea are patchworked with the patterns of rural life. Hundreds of years ago, Māori moa hunters worked these plains leaving a rock art record of their successes. The Canterbury Plains are New Zealand’s largest area of flat land, with straight roads cutting across a mosaic of paddocks. This area 40 kilometres west of Christchurch where seven roads converge is known as Charing Cross.