Marlborough, Nelson, Canterbury, Christchurch, Queenstown, Fiordland — South Island — Kuoni Travel Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific 2008/09 online holiday brochure

Unparalleled scenery and mother earth's natural phenomena unfold before your eyes while you encounter the friendliest of locals and wildlife of all shapes and sizes. south island invigorating & rugged From its highest point, Aoraki Mount Cook, to its lowest, the submarine trenches off the coast of Kaikoura, the South Island can be described as one of the most natural landscapes on earth. Much more rugged and mountainous than its North Island counterpart, yet less populated, creating a region of great space and freedom. in a word In a country where the travelling is as much an experience and as beautiful as your eventual destination, it is little wonder why South Island is so popular. Home to some of the most stunning ancient geological phenomena in the world, the Petrified Forest at Curio Bay contains fossilised trees over 180 million years old. With a slightly colder climate and more mountainous (home to New Zealand's highest mountain, Mount Cook) the rugged South Island is unique in its natural beauty and provides rewarding and breathtaking scenery to those who explore this part of the country. New Zealand's oldest city, Dunedin (Celtic for Edinburgh) was first settled upon by Europeans in 1848. Soon after gold was discovered in the Otago province which quickly made it the colony's richest and most influential entity. Interestingly the Maori culture is not as evident in the South Island as it is in the North which adds to the feel and atmosphere of a more European and certainly British region that is reflected in its architecture. 176

South Island (14 pages)… Marlborough, Nelson, Canterbury, Christchurch, Queenstown, Fiordland