Miles of wild open spaces. High desert plateaus extending from the horizons. Virgin forests of giant prehistoric trees. Grassy plains. Jagged granite rising almost 2.5 miles above the ocean. Glaciers descending into the jungle. Parrots and penguins in the same rain forest. A wild ocean crashing into footprint-free beaches. Boom towns. Ghost towns. No towns. Clapboard false fronts. Dusty main streets at high noon. Cowboys and sheepmen trading stories at the general store and the post office. Country fairs where lumberjacks saw and chop, shearers slice wool, and horsewomen debate Western vs. English, while all covet the prize-winning pies. Wyoming? Montana? Alaska? Mexico? Argentina? East Africa? Australia?
        In Part One we galloped through the North Island, stopping to gawk at prehistoric trees, Maori fishing villages, clapboard towns, artist colonies, geothermal playgrounds, until we reached the San Francisco of the South Pacific, Wellington, and the end of the island.
        In Part Two we flew to the South Island and explored the water wonders and wine lands of Nelson and Marlborough country, then headed for bloomin’ Christchurch with a short stop to spot the whales off the Kaikoura Coast. We took a great rail journey from coast to coast, crossing the Southern Alps and arriving in wild Westland, where we saw glaciers, went fishing, and visited frontier towns along the Tasman Sea. Finally, we crossed New Zealand’s highest road pass, driving from the coast through the rain forest to the alpine heights and down into the arid rain shadow of Wanaka in Central Otago on the eastern slope.
        In Part Three we explored some of New Zealand’s most famous, most majestic, most remote, and most touristed country, home of the bungy, the kea, the jet boat, and the great treks. We went back a century in Arrowtown, went extreme in Queenstown, and couldn't believe our eyes in Fiordland.
        Now, Part Four takes us in either of two directions back to civilization at Christchurch. One direction leads to Scotland on the Pacific Coast. The other crosses the great New Zealand Outback by way of the highest point in Australasia. Along the way we see penguins and albatross, lots of rabbits and a few sheep. Come with us as our Wild Frontier itinerary leads back to Christchurch by way of Dunedin and Mackenzie Country.

PART FOUR—
The Central and Southeastern South Island
        Choices, choices. But on the South Island, ultimately all roads lead to Christchurch Airport. You take the high road, and I’ll take the low. And I’ll get to Christchurch afore ye.

Choice 1: The Low Road Home to Christchurch—

FIORDLAND TO THE PACIFIC COAST AT DUNEDIN
        This is the low road from Fiordland to Christchurch and home. Begin by taking Route 94 east from Te Anau to Gore, then Highway 1 east and north to reach the southeast Pacific coast of New Zealand at Dunedin. It’s more than 170 miles across Otago to Dunedin, the Edinburgh of the South, the University City of New Zealand, the Second City of the South Island. The miles through Otago along routes 94 and 1 to Balclutha are pleasant, but rather repetitious—ranchland, farms, sheep, cattle, the occasional hill. At Balclutha, where you cross the South Island’s longest river nearest its mouth at the Pacific, the terrain becomes more coastal, but not necessarily more interesting, for the last 50 miles along National Route 1 to Dunedin.

SCOTLAND IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC
        It’s never fair, but we do it anyway. We humans cannot help but describe new experiences in terms of old. Therefore, Wellington becomes San Francisco (Far) East, Christchurch preserves a bit of Olde England in the South Pacific, and Dunedin is the antipodal Edinburgh. Well, regarding the latter, we’ve been to both Dunedin and Edinburgh, and the big city of Otago ain’t Auld Reekie. Still, Dunedin’s got some good golf, and miles of coastline, and a masonry architectural style that wouldn’t seem terribly out of place in Midlothian County, Scotland. Nor would the city’s fondness for rugby and beer.
        Two more things come to mind. Dunedin’s great cultural contribution to New Zealand is doubtless the University of Otago, certainly one of the great learning centers of New Zealand, as the University of Edinburgh is for Britain. Finally, both cities have remarkable landmark rail stations, and both provide rail dramatic journeys into the remote wilderness. From Dunedin’s beautiful Flemish Renaissance station—known locally as "Gingerbread George"—daily 4-hour round-trips depart into the Otago interior on the Taieri Gorge Limited. Like Wellington and Christchurch (and, for that matter, Kingston), Dunedin has a remnant of the old narrow-gauge New Zealand Railways still in active operation. The line proceeds northwest from the landmark Dunedin Railway Station along the Taieri River deep into the sparsely inhabited Otago interior to the village of Middlemarch. During the holiday season, October through March, the specially appointed tourist train operates at least one 4-6-hours round-trip daily through the remote Taieri Gorge and into the Otago highlands. Some trains go as far as the remote village of Middlemarch; others only as far as Pukerangi, where a bus connection is offered to Queenstown. Middlemarch is not much of a village (pop. 250), but it does have a museum, some historic farmsteads, three churches, and offers horseback riding for the 1-hour layover before returning to Dunedin.
        Like Wellington and Christchurch, Dunedin has a fine peninsular drive. The drive on the low road and high road of the Otago Peninsula features sweeping harbor views, important Maori sites, the relics of region’s large whaling industry, and rare animals and birds. Among these latter, the peninsula offers the great contrast of its rare, flightless, yellow-eyed penguins living in close proximity to a colony of Royal Albatross, the greatest of all flying birds.

DRIVING NORTH FROM DUNEDIN
        After Dunedin, the trip north is occasionally interesting in the way that a collection of minor ephemera can be, like sea flotsam, odd stones, or souvenir spoons. Despite the minor attractions of the region, the coastline here is largely under-visited, with long, flat beaches minus crowds and shabby seaside resorts, without so much as a blanket or sand castle. Headlands, coves, beaches, inlets—natural and unspoiled. The beach at Moeraki—mid-way between Dunedin and Oamaru—is best known in the region, not for sand and surf, but for its perfectly spherical, dumpling-like boulders, strewn on the beach like giant marbles, a minor geological curiosity in a country full of such places.
        The coastal plain most of the way north to Christchurch is, well, coastal and plain. The small cities (their viewpoint) or large towns (our viewpoint) of Oamaru and Timaru are speed bumps on the way north, albeit worth waking up for as a change of scenery. Otherwise, the trip north on Highway 1 is noteworthy for the series of broad, rocky, river deltas of numerous arteries emptying the snowmelt of the eastern flank of the Southern Alps into the South Pacific. Christchurch is a welcome oasis after this desert of humdrum scenery.

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