Forget bungy jumping, zorbing, vertical skying, parasailing, rafting, rugby, cricket and other extreme sports New Zealand is famous for. We didn't go to the adrenaline epicentre, Queenstown, as we were guests of the Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism office, but suffice to say that our little pod of multinational foreign correspondents proved brave among the braves. We tramped tirelessly around the rolling hills of the Banks Peninsula without squashing a single blue penguin; mastered "natural horse-riding" at Grasmere Lodge among belling elks in heat and honed our newly acquired horsemanship skills later with the Peel Forest Horse Treks. We sailed with dolphins in Akaroa and kayaked like pros among icebergs near the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, air-safaried over (and very close to) Mount Cook and the beauteous Lake Tekapo, landed on top of the Tasman Glacier with a ski-plane; spent two nights on our own at Holme Station - a haunted, isolated mansion where Urs regaled us with blood curling ghost stories while we ate our own home-cooked 'world dinner' by candle-light -, and shamelessly wined and dined with the best at The George's Pescatore Restaurant, Otahuna Lodge, Huntley House and the Wineshed Vineyard while fending off Lin's attempts to refrain us from tucking into the food while she was taking photos of every superb dish placed before our expectant forks.

In this first instalment, I'll share some of the highlights of our action-packed and wonderful trip to New Zealand's South Island, starting with the last three days. (Why not?)

Boasting 29 mountain peaks over 3000 metres tall, Mount Cook National Park has been a natural mountaineer's Mecca for a long time, as the bronze statue of Sir Edmund Hillary watching over the Hermitage Hotel's long black façade attests. The dangerous sport of mountain climbing requires special skills and a life time of practice but there are many other sporting activities to be enjoyed for the less foolhardy and we happily practiced as many as we could cram during our three days in Aoraki National Park. Among those, we tried our hands - or, rather, our arms - at sea kayaking with Charlie Hobbs, one of New Zealand's most experienced and respected mountain guides and an old mate of Sir Edmund Hillary. Apart from his sky and mountain guide activities, Charlie also runs The Old Mountaineers' Café Bar and Restaurant with his wife and the Southern Alps Guiding Glacier Sea Kayaking business. Kayaking in tune while dodging icebergs in the glacier's terminal lake proved good fun and was easy enough to learn, even for beginners like us.

Evie with ice

The next day, we enjoyed a boat tour of New Zealand's largest glacier with Glacier Explorers where a spirited young Slovak woman named Evie prompted us to touch and even taste 500 year old ice from the icebergs, which we did with gusto. Beside an informative and witty commentary, Evie informed us that the best course of action to follow if you happen to fall off the inflatable boat was to swim very fast to shore as you would not survive more than 5 minutes in the icy waters.

For me, the most spine chilling experience was our 90 minutes flight in Aoraki Mount Cook Ski Plane as we shaved the flanks of jagged mountains, looking as if we were going to crash straight into the snow covered peaks. However, my inane fear of flying in single propeller planes soon turned to exhilaration when our flying ski machine landed softly and glided on top of the Tasman glacier. This "retractable aircraft ski", which was developed in 1955 by (Sir) Henry Wigley and Squib McWhirter, has become one of the "must do" activities in the Mount Cook village.

Let's make one thing clear: New Zealand is the REAL home of the Brave!

With hand-crafted wooden huts, an outdoor bath and a tree-top swing, Stony Bay Cottages is pure Hobbitt country. Expecting to be greeted to Middle Earth by Bilbo himself, we stumble instead onto a secluded clearing where a group of merry women gathered around a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc look as if they're having the time of their lives. In a quiet corner of the garden, two ladies are soaking in a cast iron tub heated by a wood log fire burning underneath. It looks as they might provide the slow-cooked meat for some sort of cannibal feast tonight, although they look strangely relaxed.

Far from the refined luxury of Otahuna Lodge, these quaint mini cottages, all built by the clever hands of Mark, one of the land-owners and co-operator of the Banks Peninsula Track, are meant to serve as a one night refuge for "trampers" roughing it on the trail. It's strictly BYO although there's a pantry-size shop functioning on an honour system for food and conveniences.

The Banks Peninsula Track was opened a few years ago by Sharyn and Francis Helps, a couple of eco-friendly farmers who owned a large track of land around Akaroa Bay but were struggling to make ends meet from sheep farming. They banded together with neighbouring farmers to make the track a viable business. Sharyn and Francis were inspired by their passion for the little blue penguins inhabiting the area. Putting their money where their mouth is, they gave up their fishing rights around their property to make a maritime sanctuary and donated a sizeable portion of their land to the government who charged them a rent for their generosity and offered no help at all to maintain the trail. They took the rip off philosophically and even built little huts to protect their beloved penguins. Meeting such generous, selfless and content people is a balm to the heart.

That's something special about the Kiwis, at least the ones we met: they seem happier than most other people, living their lives simply by (as Sonja put it) doing what they like or liking what they do.

Take Josie Martin, for instance. This free-spirited, blue-haired Akaroa-based artist has patiently crafted Linton, her old property up on the hill, into her own garden of Eden, with wondrous mosaic-covered statues, objects and figures which leave you with a happy feeling and a smiling face when you say good bye to her House of the Giants which she also runs as a B&B. Happy people tend to be contagious.

Consider also Hall Cannon and Miles Refo, two young(ish) New Yorkers who have made their dream come true. Leaving behind the high life in the fastest city in the world, they have settled in Tai Tapu, near Christchurch, to renovate the historic Otahuna Lodge to its original splendor with exquisite taste and are now lords of this magnificent manor. They've also renovated the vast vegetable patch which produces some 50 varieties of tomatoes, among many other things, to the great joy of the talented chef Jimmy McIntyre who created a spectacular degustation menu for us in the candle-lit Gosford Park style dining room. They couldn't be happier. Just as happy as we were, drifting magically into the languid Edwardian era.

Then, there's Alexandra and Tussock Gualter who operate a white water rafting business and a backpackers' lodge near the Peel Forest called Rangitata Rafts River Lodge. This friendly couple can't believe their luck that they have managed to turn a favourite sporting activity into a viable business and that they actually get paid to do what they like best. That's happiness!

Last but not least, there's our leader extraordinaire, Cécile Dransart from Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism, who has chauffeured and herded us all through this beautiful tour. This enthusiastic 25 year-old French woman has been in New Zealand for only two years but has already acquired such a good grasp of English (and several other languages too) with a Kiwi accent that she could pass as a true-blue (or whatever New Zealand born people call themselves). She loves her adopted country and advertises its splendours with unreserved passion. She's very happy here too, living in the land of the free.