Safety - personal, car, etc

Hi Wendy,
I've been over here (in Christchurch) for little over a year and so far have had no issues with regards to safety. Granted, some of this is bound to be that I haven't been to the less desirable areas, but as a whole I feel far far safer walking the streets than I ever did in the UK.
Transport is pretty good within the city and can get to most touristy places around Canterbury on the bus, and you can usually fly between cities without spending a fortune. My friend recently visited and travelled a lot and found it quite easy to hitch hike around the island.
I'd make sure you brush up on the laws of the road before driving, for e.g. you may have a green light but pedestrians may be crossing on a 'green man' to which you'll have to give way too, in otherwords, just because it's green doesn't mean you can go...
There's a van near where I live that's parked on the road, it has windows on every panel and there's always cables, tools, power tools within it that's left on display and it's never been broken into, that's not say if it's parked in another area of the city it wouldn't have though...
If you're hiking (tramping as its referred to here) you can get loads of information from the DOC  (Department of Conservation) website or offices, recommend visiting the website before you come for all manner of information. There's loads of tramping guys you can stay in on your walls, but you may need to book them in advance on more popular walks, and generally have to buy a licence, again, check the DOC website for more info.

Sorry to have rambled on, hope the info is of some use.

If you do visit Christchurch on your travels me and the family would be more than happy to meet for a coffee and recommend some things to do.

P.s. If you're in the position I'd recommend coming for longer than 2 months, especially if you want to travel around both islands, so so many beautiful places to visit.