Best of New Zealand - 18th February - Dunedin

Friday 18^th February – Dunedin

Dunedin was born out of gold and reached maturity through industry and educational excellence. From New Zealand's largest city by population, to the largest city by area, Dunedin has always held a prominent position in the country. The city has always recognised the importance of its heritage and this can be found in the original architecture and prominence of memorials both to the fallen soldiers and to the pioneering forebears.

The City has retained many features of its past, from old tram tracks to Pixie Town. While many of the city's features caused varying degrees of controversy at the time of their inception, they have with patience and constant awareness of changing needs, become much-loved and well recognised city amenities.

With a population of about 122,000 people, Dunedin is absent of the buzz and fast pace of a large metropolitan city. More people are choosing to settle here, taking advantage of the lower cost of living, the low traffic, low crime rate and the lack of commuting hassles.

For a city of its size, Dunedin is relatively easy to get around, regardless of what time of the day it is. It has very accessible recreational and cultural venues, great shopping, supermarkets, restaurants, as well as first-rate health care and education.

Dunedin is built around its tertiary institutions, and has the deserved reputation as the country's premier centre of learning, housing a student population of about 20,000. The country's first University – the University of Otago, adjacent to the Otago Polytechnic and the Dunedin College of Education, together form a compact tertiary education heartland, only minutes from the City centre.

The South Island (Maori: Te Wai Pounamu) is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. Only 24% of New Zealand's 4.4 million inhabitants live in the South Island. In the early stages of European settlement of the country, the South Island had the majority of the European population and wealth due to the 1860s gold rushes. The North Island population overtook the South in the early 20th century, with 56% of the population living in the North in 1911.

The South Island, with an area of 151,215 km² (58,093 square miles), is the largest land mass of New Zealand; it contains about one quarter of the New Zealand population and is the world's 12th-largest island. It is divided along its length by the Southern Alps, the highest peak of which is Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3754 metres (12,316 ft). There are eighteen peaks of more than 3000 metres (9800 ft) in the South Island. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines, very high proportion of native bush, and Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The dramatic landscape of the South Island has made it a popular location for the production of several films, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The climate in the South Island is mostly temperate. The Mean temperature for the South Island is 8 °C (46 °F). January and February are the warmest months while July is the coldest. Conditions vary sharply across the regions from extremely wet on the West Coast to semi-arid in the Mackenzie Basin of inland Canterbury. Most areas have between 600 and 1600 mm of rainfall with the most rain along the West Coast and the least rain on the East Coast, predominantly on the Canterbury Plains. Christchurch is the driest city receiving about 640 mm (25 in) of rain per year. The southern and south-western parts of South Island have a cooler and cloudier climate, with around 1400–1600 hours of sunshine annually; the northern and north-eastern parts of the South Island are the sunniest areas and receive approximately 2400–2500 hours.

The South Island has 15 named maritime fiords which are all located in the south west of the island in a mountainous area known as Fiordland. The spelling 'fiord' is used in New Zealand, although all the maritime fjords use the word Sound in their name instead.

Most of New Zealand's glaciers are in the South Island. They are generally found in the Southern Alps near the Main Divide. An inventory of South Island glaciers during the 1980s indicated there were about 3,155 glaciers with an area of at least one hectare. Approximately one sixth of these glaciers covered more than 10 hectares. These include the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers on the West Coast, and the Tasman, Hooker, Mueller and Murchison glaciers in the east.

There are some 3,820 lakes in New Zealand with a surface area larger than one hectare. Much of the higher country in the South Island was covered by ice during the glacial periods of the last two million years. Advancing glaciers eroded large steep-sided valleys, and often carried piles of moraine (rocks and soil) that acted as natural dams. When the glaciers retreated, they left basins that are now filled by lakes. The level of most glacial lakes in the upper parts of the Waitaki and Clutha rivers are controlled for electricity generation. Hydroelectric reservoirs are common in South Canterbury and Central Otago, the largest of which is Lake Benmore, on the Waitaki River.

The South Island has 8 of New Zealand's 10 biggest lakes. They were formed by glaciers and include Lake Wakatipu, Lake Tekapo and Lake Manapouri. The deepest (462 m) is Lake Hauroko, in western Southland. It is the 16th deepest lake in the world. Millions of years ago, Central Otago had a huge lake – Lake Manuherikia. It was slowly filled in with mud, and fossils of fish and crocodiles have been found there.

There are 4 extinct volcanoes in the South Island, all of which are located on the east coast.

Banks Peninsula forms the most prominent of these volcanic features. Geologically, the peninsula comprises the eroded remnants of two large shield volcanoes (Lyttelton formed first, then Akaroa). These formed due to intra plate volcanism between approximately eleven and eight million years ago (Miocene) on a continental crust. The peninsula formed as offshore islands, with the volcanoes reaching to about 1,500 m above sea level. Two dominant craters formed Lyttelton and Akaroa Harbours.

The Canterbury Plains formed from the erosion of the Southern Alps (an extensive and high mountain range caused by the meeting of the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates) and from the alluvial fans created by large braided rivers. These plains reach their widest point where they meet the hilly sub-region of Banks Peninsula. A layer of unstable fine silt deposited by the  winds which bluster across the plains, covers the northern and western flanks of the peninsula. The portion of crater rim lying between Lyttelton Harbour and Christchurch city forms the Port Hills.

The Otago Harbour was formed from the drowned remnants of a giant shield volcano, centred close to what is now the town of Port Chalmers. The remains of this violent origin can be seen in the basalt of the surrounding hills. The last eruptive phase ended some ten million years ago, leaving the prominent peak of Mount Cargill.

Timaru was constructed on rolling hills created from the lava flows of the extinct Mount Horrible, which last erupted many thousands of years ago.