Christchurch hints and tips

[OpFor]

My family and I are from Belgrade, Serbia, and we planning to move to Christchurch.
We read a lot about this town, and according to that, it is excellent for us.
But...
There is a lot of things that we don't know, so if you folks could give us some tips or advice regarding:
1 - Which part of city/suburban you preferred?
2 - Is there any daily or weekly rhythm that is specific for ChCh?
3 - What about schools - any "bad" or "good"?

We would be there at the middle of December (our master plan) - my wife, two daughters (5 and 12) and myself.

P.S. This is just first burst of questions