South  Canterbury.  The extensive Canterbury Plains sprawl south to Timaru, much of it now irrigated making this a very important fertile agricultural area.

Tourists and sportsmen follow roads inland for mountaineering at Mount Cook, skiing at Mount Hutt, boating on the lakes formed by the hydro-electricity dams and trout or salmon fishing in the snow fed lakes and rivers.

Those who love parks and gardens must visit Ashburton, Timaru and Geraldine.

Otago, the scenic playground of New Zealand, offers attractions for everyone: mountains, lakes, fiords, semi-desert, coastal grandeur; skiing, curling in winter; swimming, sailing, tramping, jet-boating, rafting and fishing in summer.

Dunedin which was initially settled by Scottish immigrants, has a street plan based on that of Edinburgh. The city's prosperity was originally due to gold being discovered in 1861 just 60km away, but now depends on food processing, engineering, commerce and its large university – the oldest in the country - offering many specialist schools. The city is renowned for its architecture and cultural life, and its superb art gallery, theatre and museums. The hinterland is an extraordinary mix of rich arable lowlands and high country grazing, as well as forestry and hydroelectric generation.

Queenstown, with all its attractions, is a focus for all tourists and a stepping stone to the grandeur of Te Anau, Milford Sound and Haast Pass.

Southland  Farming is the basis of Southland's prosperity and this region exports 20% of New Zealand’s primary produce. But you can also see such major activities as fishing at Riverton; the Alliance and Waikawa freezing works; saw milling at Tuatapere; aluminium production at Tiwai and coal mining at Ohai.
There are extensive plains that feed the world's greatest concentration of sheep and now increasingly dairy cattle. Deer, goats, ostriches, and llamas are also farmed here.  The seas to the south produce fish and shellfish, especially oysters from Foveaux Strait. Those who love the great outdoors do not have far to travel to reach recreational areas - rivers that abound in fish; fiordlands; forests and mountains that call climbers and deerstalkers; the beautiful Te Anau and Manapouri Lakes; Milford and Doubtful Sounds.

The coast between Balclutha and Invercargill offers spectacular beaches, water falls, petrified forest rocks, yellow-eyed penguin colonies, native forest and fertile farmland. For the adventurous, across Foveaux Strait lies unspoilt Stewart Island, which includes New Zealand’s latest National Park.  Combine an opportunity to reach back to gold mining and land-breaking history and forward to our southern lifestyle with its reputation for warmth of hospitality.