My wife and I will be atttending the World Softball Championships in Christchurch, NZ during late January and the first week in February, 2004. We are looking for accommodation for that period, and there does not appear to be a lot of detailed info on Christchurch readily available. Any suggestions for deluxe accommodation (hotel, motel, inn, not B&amp;B in the Christchurch area would be much appreciated. Thanks<BR><BR>DES

Christchurch has hundreds of excellent Motels. Have a look at http://www.jasons.co.nz/country.cfm?country=nz&amp;CFID=1148712&amp;CFTOKE N=26519974<BR><BR>http://www.nz-accommodation.co.nz/red.html<BR><BR>http://www.newzealand-accommodation-index.co.nz/<BR><BR>We are off to Christchurch at the end of the month and are staying at the Milano, http://www.milanomotorlodge.co.nz/index.html<BR><BR>Motels are really the preferable way to go, although there are expensive Hotels if that is what you want.<BR>

If you decide to stay in a Hotel rather than Motel or B &amp; B - I can highly recommend the Millennium Hotel which is 4* on the square in the centre of the city.<BR>We stayed there last year and found it to be extremely comfortable - very clean with good sized bathrooms. <BR>Very pleasant and helpful staff.<BR>It is within walking distance of anything you would want to see in the city, and close to the Hop On Hop Off Tram, which is an excellent way of touring all the highlights.<BR>I can also recommend Canterbury Trails, who run tours of the area. We toured the Banks Penninsula and Akaroa with them and had a wonderful day. Their tours can be tailored to the individual needs of the clients, and they are also very pleasant and efficient.<BR>Hope this helps.

Thanks, both. I really should have caught some of these websites, and I'm grateful for the info. Prue, thanks for the info on Canterbury Trails. I'll pursue all of this stuff. It makes happy viewing--don't know where you're from, but up here in Canada (Ontario) there's a blizzard going on right now after a night of freezing rain. Ugh.<BR><BR>DES

Hi<BR>\<BR>We stayed in Christchurch last March at the Rydges hotel. It's in a good central location and we were very pleased with it. Prices were approx $150 NZ which came to about $50 American.

Hi Des,<BR><BR>I don’t envy you that blizzard.<BR><BR>Here in Chiangmai we, like you, are approaching the end of winter. It is 21ºC here at the moment, forecast to get up to 33º during the day then drop to a chilly 14ºovernight.<BR><BR>We find the New Zealand summers a bit cool!<BR><BR>Tangata<BR>

Hi Des,<BR>I am in rural Australia - we are in the midst of an horrific drought so everything is just dry and brown - very depressing.<BR>Temperature today is about 100 degrees - and a snow storm would be good!!<BR>

Thanks, LN. Prue, Tangata--I guess it's what you're used to (or would prefer not to be used to). &quot;Rural&quot; Australia and/or Thailand sound pretty good to me right now. In fact, our blizzard, complete with &quot;whiteouts&quot;, continues with temperatures in the -20-25C. range. My wife and I are consulting a travel agent this afternoon with a view to heading for the West Coast of Florida (Sarasota, Naples, whatever) just as soon as possible. Can't take this any more. Prue, hope your drought eases quickly--but a scan of Aussie weather doesn't hold out a lot of immediate hope, apparently.<BR><BR>DES

We stayed at the the Chateau on the Park http://www.chateau-park.co.nz/Welcome.html. A nice hotel right in town, near the central park area and has a shuttle to any near attractions that you can book. Rooms were nice and roomy if a little old. Nice gardens.

Thanks, S.S. Your recommendation is noted--sounds good. Spacious counts. Tangata and Prue, if you happen to be monitoring this site, know that three weeks later, we are still in the deep-freeze: -25C this morning, and LOTS of snow. Summer is comin'---yeah, sure...<BR><BR>DES

Hi Davidess,<BR>I have much better news from 'downunder' we have had some wonderful rain in the past couple of weeks - and the grass is growing at last. We need lots more to be officially droughtfree but it is certainly a good start.

We stayed at The George, a 55 room boutique hotel. (A Memeber of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. It looks very plain from the outside but has a classic elegant feel inside.<BR><BR>We stayed in a suite which was quite large, nicely furnished, and felt pampered.<BR><BR>I can't speak, however, for the standard hotel rooms.