Cashmere, New Zealand

Okay, so I'm here in Cashmere, and wow, the views are incredible! You're really high up here, looking over Christchurch. It's on the north side of the Port Hills, and you can see why it’s a popular spot for recreation. There are tons of bike and walking tracks up in Victoria Park, which is just above us, and those connect to even more trails all along the Port Hills. And way up there, you can spot Sugarloaf, that 496-meter peak with the big 119-meter transmission tower. Looks like it broadcasts local radio and TV.

Just to give you a bit of history, the Māori name for this area is Te Iringa-o-Kahukura, which apparently relates to a demigod uplifting a wooden figure. The name "Cashmere" itself comes from Sir John Cracroft Wilson’s farm. He moved here from India in 1854 and bought a huge chunk of land, 108 hectares, to create Cashmere farm. He named it after his birthplace, Kashmir. Some of his old farm buildings are still around today. The house he built for his Indian workers, for example, is now a function center called "The Old Stone House." It’s been damaged and restored twice, once after a fire in 1971 and then again after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

Speaking of earthquakes, this area was hit pretty hard. There was a 'blind' fault rupture that went from here east-northeast, causing a lot of rockfall, cliff collapse, and landslips. You can still see some of the impact, and it's a reminder that this hillside is prone to those kinds of hazards.

It's clear this has always been a more upscale area. Homes started popping up in the 1890s, and by 1908, they even had their own church, built on land donated by John Cracroft Wilson. The tram line used to come all the way up here until 1954, and it really solidified Cashmere's reputation as a refined suburb, which it still holds today. You can see two of Harry Ell's old rest houses, the Sign of the Takahe and the Sign of the Kiwi, both really cool heritage buildings. And Ngaio Marsh's old house on Valley Road is now a museum. Definitely worth checking out while you're here.