Chris Parvin heads to Christchurch, the Garden City‚ and blows the cover off New Zealand's best-kept secret. Here's a clue. It involves a golf course...
One good reason is usually more than enough to organise a golf trip.
So get packing, you're about to get three.
That's three distinctly different courses at three different clubs just three hours from the east coast of Australia.
And we're not talking about the North Island here‚ uh-oh, the words are forming in your mind aren't they ‚ 'But the South Island's freezing cold throughout the year and I can't play golf in a ski suit.'
So let's deal with that little bit of misinformation first courtesy of Brett James, general manager of Pegasus Golf and Sports Club, North Canterbury.
'I left the Gold Coast to come and do this job. We don't get rain like we do back home, just a fine mist now and then. A group of my mates came over for a golf trip and at the end I asked where they want to go on their next visit. None of them want to go anywhere else, they're all coming back.'
Weather myth scotched, Queenslanders love it, let's move on.
Regional tourism organisations vie with each other for the title of best this and best that and as you'll find at www.christchurchnz.com this one's a ‚"golf lover's paradise with more than 18 courses and driving ranges within easy reach of the city‚" which is absolutely true as you'll notice as you fly in.
From the air Christchurch, the 'garden city', is shoe-horned in amongst green and leisure facilities of all descriptions. It's as if the fun came way before the nine-to-five, a pretty good attitude for New Zealand's second largest city.
All of which means you'd expect resort golf to be among the best around and you'd be right again.
The surprise is the variety you get in such a compact area, something Will Owen of Playing Around New Zealand and Pure Gold Charters knows only too well.
'I organise itineraries and act as a virtual concierge or guided tour operator for around 200 golfers a year. The Christchurch leg of those trips is always a delight to put together because the feedback is all about the surprising amount of diversity in the golf experience, people just love this part of the journey,' he says.
What they're talking about is the opportunity to play Clearwater's immaculate championship layout within minutes of the central city; the constantly surprising and rewarding Ocean-side Pegasus layout 25 minutes from town, and the breathtakingly high and scenic Terrace Downs, 50 minutes from Christchurch International Airport.
Your biggest challenge is which order to play them in, which is where Will's local knowledge and experience can come in very useful.
So following some advice and nudging the Apex Rental Car into the high country, my itinerary started at Terrace Downs.
Their tag line is 'New Zealand's best kept secret' so my apologies for blowing their cover.
How sought-after is it? Well, the only secret when I got there was that the All Blacks management team were hiding out at their annual strategy meeting. That hour from town may be short but once you're up in the mountains it's like being in another, luxurious world.
The presence of Messrs Henry and co meant the restaurant was off-limits and I had to dine in my villa - lucky me!
Watching the TV compete badly with the setting sun as I tucked in made me decide to sleep with the curtains open, so the whole thing could wake me up again the next morning.
Sure enough the sun oozed over Mount Hutt like an upset tumbler of thick orange juice and I was out on the course early enough to have it all to myself, with not a rugby manager in sight.
At an altitude of 450 metres you're going to have to think about this place, your balls fly further ‚ or at least that's what you can blame for running out of ammo early on.
The front nine is like a parkland setting, but only because some fairways are bordered by trees.
Then a great thick shelter belt along the perimeter reminds you this is home to high country farming and suburban parks seem a long way away.
Property around the course is very well positioned too, to complement, rather than hinder, so unless you're a big boom-boom merchant with a vicious slice or hook, you can safely put multi-million dollar damage bills out of your mind.
The second nine is lower and correspondingly more open. The wind likes to sneak into play up here so club selection becomes more critical than usual, but the constant reward is an amazing view whichever way you're facing.
The signature 100-metre, par-three 16th gives you a huge look down the Rakaia Gorge and challenges you to hit over it. In the still of the morning it inspired a mild trembling so you can only imagine how staunch you'd need to be when the big blows charge in.
Terrace Downs is all about matching its course to its surroundings, a feat it's pulled off remarkably well. But the essence of this is the whole experience; the accommodation, the clubhouse, the outlook, the elements, even the journey in and out. Miss it at your peril, you'll be hard pressed to replicate it anywhere else in the world.
The difference at Peppers Clearwater Resort is immediately apparent. There's not a mountain for miles and though the entire range of city amenities is in easy reach all you can see is golf course, and finely manicured golf course at that.
Initiated a decade ago, Clearwater is beautifully spaced out as it rolls across the Christchurch countryside. Other fairways are very rarely in play, particularly on the front nine, and a sizeable collection of ponds and lakes sparkle with, aptly, crystal clear water. You might get wet balls in there but you'll rarely lose them.
As host of the NZ PGA Championship there's no doubt this is a serious layout. But it's also a club course, run separately to the Peppers accommodation and leisure complex on site.
That difference makes your visit a rather special occasion. Not everybody's a tourist here so there's no shortage of local knowledge floating around to help you round the course on your first visit.
It also means the place is eminently playable and not as cruel as some championship venues can be.
Sure there are plenty of defences in all the right (or wrong) places, with bunkers, water, rough and pin-positioning as testing as you'll find anywhere.
But the competition difference is apparent as you look back before you drive off, preferably with binoculars, to the championship tees.
Stand up there and imagine you've got the extra distance in your arsenal and you'll realise all those fairway bunkers and ponds have gone from ‚òpotential nuisance' to ‚òmajor alarm signal'. It's Defcon One stuff for the big boys so be grateful you didn't go for your tour card this year.
The greens staff do a superb job of producing putting surfaces fast enough to demand respect, while still maintaining a decent grain to help your ball hold its line.
You'll feel the challenge all the way through Clearwater but you'll feel equal to it. It's a worthy and skilful opponent rather than a bully, and that's a great position for any golf course to be in.
High standard accommodation at Peppers means excellent villas with great views across the course, and the restaurant could compete in any modern city centre, along with the service: attentive, knowledgeable and professional but also relaxed. Dining there on one night of your stay is a must.
The other accommodation alternative is a short stroll down the drive to Clearview Lodge, a very fine, five-star, hosted chateau-style bed and breakfast.
Set on 10 acres of vineyard, olive grove, apple orchard and roses in profusion, all butting on to Clearwater, Clearview has everything you'd expect from the finest hotel, as well as owners who really know how to host.
Robin and Sue Clements, both Clearwater members, keen golf tourists and great company, purpose-built the property for entertaining guests and family alike.
So the areas you're welcome to enjoy include a guest lounge (with seriously large TV ready for ticket-less 2011 Rugby World Cup refugees, take note) and their own behemoth of a kitchen/dining room.
They've nailed the ambience completely so whatever style you live in, you'll feel feet-under-the-table at home here.
They're also a great resource for visitors, golfers, heck, even passers by. If their local knowledge doesn't include it, it ain't worth knowing.
Luckily the property's only 15 minutes from Pegasus, the third in the Canterbury trio of golfing delights.
This was opened so recently it's still got that new-golf-course-smell, in this case a heady wisp of ozone drifting over from the east coast, which is neatly barriered by a lush embankment in the distance.
Pegasus town is growing steadily into a new suburb for people who only like a short commute to the city.
The golf experience starts at the clubhouse and gym, and includes a great driving range complete with pop-up balls, one of the few in the country by all accounts.
The facilities are everything you'd expect from a well-heeled resort course and, as you'd expect in its first year of operation, all gleamingly new.
That means now's a good time for your first visit, so you can say on all your subsequent trips; "I remember when..."
And you certainly will want to come back because Pegasus has a couple of very different aspects to a lot of established clubs.
For one thing the course itself is a links track without the traditional constant blast of ice-cold sea gales. That's not to say it's wind-free. On the day I played the breeze had lifted millions of golf-ball-sized splodges of white foam off the Pacific tide and dropped them all over the fairways and greens.
But I never felt the gusts, which is probably due to that embankment providing a ski jump to send the wind up and over, rather than straight across the course.
The second difference is the attitude of the place.
You won't be encouraged to play in singlets and sandals but you won't need to iron your walk-shorts and buy knee-socks either.
"We want people to come and experience golf here, that's the most important aim of the place," says Brett James. Fine words you'd expect to hear from a par-three pitch and putt, but this was the venue for the 2010 New Zealand Women's Open we're talking about.
It's a serious course with every aspect of the region's golfing topography on show. Trees from the parklands, flax from the links layouts, tussock from the high country‚ you could probably play Pegasus and say you've played Canterbury in one session.
But it's also very forgiving. Not to mention inspiring, particularly on the signature par-4 15th.
Look straight down the fairway and the pin is nowhere in sight. Then turn left a bit and look across a big hairy gulley and you'll see‚ the fairway again, complete with the green. It looks for all the world like the hole's been split in two by some giant's axe, leaving a few spindly trees as a token barrier.
Aiming a big fade to the left off the tee is the brave golfer's route. Aiming a straight drive down the middle and a sizeable chip over the ditch ‚ that's the brave golfer's route too!
Pegasus is full of neat tests like that and for those reasons no golf trip to Christchurch and Canterbury should finish without it.
With the right playing partners, you don't just have to play the game for beers, you can go off the whites and set challenges on every hole as you go along.
Add to all of those the traditional plethora of non-golf things to do in Christchurch and Canterbury ‚ punting, jet-boating, fishing, hunting, fine dining, spas, great shopping, arts, crafts, music, theatre, wine tours, mountain-biking, surfing, jet-boating‚ well it's a New Zealand city isn't it, so every permutation of adventure and relaxation is available in spades.
And if you're determined to find it cold, come in mid-winter and add skiing and snowboarding into the mix.
Just don't sue us when you find you've got too many clothes.
Christchurch is hot stuff, you've been warmed.
at a glance Getting there: Emirates flies daily to Auckland from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and daily from Sydney to Christchurch. For flight information and bookings contact Emirates on 1300 303 777, visit your local travel agent or www.emirates.com/au Accommodation: Terrace Downs villas start from $199 per night but offer packages on their website. www.terracedowns.co.nz
Clearview Lodge. Check rates and availability at www.clearviewlodge.com
Novotel Christchurch has 193 rooms. www.novotel.com
Crowne Plaza Christchurch has 298 rooms. www.crowneplaza.co.nz Getting around: Will Owen at Playing Around New Zealand can prepare and arrange self-drive itineraries or guided tours around the region and the rest of New Zealand. Contact www.playgolf.co.nz/
Apex Rentals has a fleet of budget vehicles from $36 per day. Contact www.apexrentals.co.nz Green fees: (non-affiliated): Terrace Downs ‚ $125, Clearwater ‚ $130, Pegasus - $80. Things to do: Everything New Zealand is famous for and quite a bit more. Go to www.christchurchnz.com for information on a huge list of non-golf alternatives. * All prices in New Zealand dollars
