We will end our 20 day tour of Australia and New Zealand in Christchurch (our flight home leaves from there) and are thinking of staying a few extra days. We will have been in the North Island and in the South Island our tour will have seen Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, Milford Sound, Queenstown with a day exploring Christchurch. We would like to spend a couple of extra days doing unstructuring exploring of the area - we are not into backpacking, camping or strenuous hiking. We can't do more than 5 days - suggestions would be appreciated.

Suggest a day spent at Akaroa - a bus can take you out there. It is a "French" coastal village where you can swim with dolphins. Another lovely drive and day out is to Hamner Springs where you can laze about in the thermal pools - also recommend the bakery here.

What time of year?

I lived in Dunedin about five years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a mini San Francisco with a great beach. A very nice couple own the only beach front motel called the St. Clair. The surf can be so loud you have to close the window if your talking on the phone. Make sure you get oceanfront. The Robbie Burns cafe has great jazz on Thursday night and the beach is at least two miles long. Enjoy, Lou B

Kaikoura is a lovely coastal town located just a few hours north of Christchurch. Very good whale watch tours and swimming with dolphins around there. Fur seal colony nearby.

If you are short on time in Christchurch I would recommend doing the Christchurch City Bike Tour, its guided and a great way to see everything in 2 hours.