Capital of the Canterbury region and the largest city on the South Island, CHRISTCHURCH (population 300,000) exudes a palpable air of gentility and a connectedness with the mother country. After all, it was perceived as an outpost of Anglicanism by its first settlers, was named after an Oxford college, and has some of the feel of a traditional English university town, with its neo-Gothic architecture and gently winding river. To some degree it pursues an archetype - the boys at Christ's College still wear striped blazers, and punts course along the Avon - but the Englishness is largely skin deep. Modern Christchurch is a lively melting pot of cultures, with a continental café scene and a distinct, ever-changing Kiwi identity of its own. Indeed, those who regard Christchurch as a quiet place in which to sleep off jet lag or take a break from the long journey across the South Island will be pleasantly surprised by the city's contemporary face. In recent years its traditional conservatism has gained a more youthful, bohemian edge, with an explosion of lively bars and restaurants , the emergence of underground nightlife , and a burgeoning of the visual arts, theatre, music and street entertainment. Such urban pursuits are nicely balanced by the Pacific Ocean suburbs of New Brighton and Sumner, both of which boast excellent beaches .

Straddling the main road and rail routes running down the east coast, Christchurch is used by many tourists as a base from which to explore the South Island, with the steep, angular terrain of Banks Peninsula and the vineyards of the Canterbury Plains proving the most popular out-of-town destinations. Many of the outdoor activities for which New Zealand is famous are accessible from here, with a plethora of city-based companies offering trips involving rafting, paragliding, ballooning and mountain biking in the surrounding countryside . The city is also within a two-hour drive of several good skifields to the west , making it possible to combine a day on the pistes with an evening in Christchurch's numerous nocturnal watering holes. Indeed the place's only real drawback is its cost: compared with the rest of the South Island, Christchurch is an expensive place to spend any length of time.