To the south, on the edge of the flat patchwork quilt of the Canterbury Plains, lies the ‘Garden City’ of Christchurch, the South Island’s largest community. The tree-lined River Avon meanders through the center of the city, which with its public school, old university buildings (now a fantastic arts center) and examples of Neo-Gothic architecture is reminiscent of an old English university town. The central square of the city is occupied by a cathedral which provides a useful landmark for tourists either on foot or using the charming historic trams. About 500m (1640ft) from the square is the vast expanse of Hagley Park, on the borders of which are the Old Canterbury University/Arts Center, the Canterbury Museum, the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, the botanical gardens and Christ’s College. Just a short walk along the river is St Michael and All Angels Church; an unusually beautiful wooden Neo-Gothic building combining French and English styles and containing a mixture of Maori and Catholic elements. For excursions from Christchurch, the nearby Banks Peninsula provides a hilly alternative to the flat city, with a cable car, beaches, boat trips, pods of Hector’s dolphins (unique to New Zealand) and a number of accessible walking tracks. Another alternative is to take a hot air balloon ride and from that vantage point look west across the broad flat plains to the Southern Alps, north to the Kaikoura Ranges and Cook Strait and south down the east coast as far as the historic white-stone city of Oamaru.