Avon River / Ōtākaro(Shakespere River)

The Avon River is a charming river with clear water and beautiful landscapes on both sides. Here, people can enjoy a relaxing time and appreciate the charming scenery around them. It is very romantic. The English-style flat-bottomed boats on the river are also one of the famous attractions here.
The river stretches for 14 kilometers through the city, and the weeping willows on both sides and the native New Zealand silver ferns are interwoven into an emerald corridor. The Victorian-style wooden arch bridge is reflected in the water, and the flat-bottomed boats that the boatmen paddle past form a flowing picture scroll. In the riverside botanical garden, under the Norfolk pine tree-lined avenue planted in 1870, artists often set up easels to capture the elegant posture of black swans cruising. Every Saturday morning, the riverside walkway turns into an open-air gallery, and local potters display coarse pottery tea sets on the waterside platform, and the air is filled with the aroma of freshly ground Flat White coffee. The Gothic tower of the Canterbury Museum at the river bend, its stained glass windows cast rainbow light on the water at sunset. In autumn, when the beech trees turn golden, the artist's specially designed luminous lotus leaf installation floats on the river, complementing the laser show on the observatory dome.