Christchurch Tourist Trap Tips by Kate-Me

...almost good enough to be under 'attractions'...but to me, not quite..
Address: www.willowbank.co.nz/ 60 Hussey Road, Christchurch

We wanted to see at least 1 wildlife Park during our 9 day stay in New Zealand, and by half way through the trip we hadn't seen really any birds in the wild at all, which was disappointing, so we resorted to going to a wildlife park. There were 2 to choose from, and the other one sounded more like a Safari Park with african animals...we chose this one because they said there were a lot of NZ birds...well, there were some, but also exotic animals like monkeys in cages too small for them that didn't belong...and one very sad looking Australian magpie in a small cage with low roof who looked like he was begging me to set him free....
For $20 per person, and it only took us about an hour to go through, I thought it was a bit expensive too.
more details soon.....

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At Least Do This: Be prepared it's not as good as the brochures say, and there's a lot of (I thought unnecessary) farm animals cooped up in small enclosures, and their sad demeanour really doesn't add anything to the park, in my view.
It is though a good place to see kiwi birds, as there's a walk through nocturnal enclosure, and lets face it, you're just not likely to see one of those in the wild....
Alternative: Maybe the Safari park would have been better.....or another wildlife park in some other town or city (we didn't have that option as we only visited 2 cities & 1 town)