In Mid 2011, during the 2010-2012 Canterbury earthquake sequence, a site investigation programme was undertaken within the Christchurch CBD to characterise the engineering behaviour of the soils responsible for the observed ground performance. This paper presents the trialling of new ‘Gel-push’ sampler technology recently acquired by the University of Canterbury for obtaining high quality undisturbed samples of cohesionless materials from liquefaction prone sites. The sampler technology and methodology are discussed followed by presentation of initial results of shear wave velocity testing on samples with comparison to field measurements, providing indicative quality of the samples and the ability of the sampler to achieve high quality samples suitable for liquefaction strength testing.