No matter where you live in Otago, it's hard to turn around without coming across a mountain, river or beach - just some of the geographical features you can make use of in an Otago activities day.
The idea behind the day is simple - find a group of like-minded people, pick a date and choose your activities.
Remember, this is no ordinary day.
It's meant to be a mammoth, once-a-year event involving as many activities as you can fit in.
[commentcaption=What would be your dream Otago Activities Day?]Everyone's idea of the perfect day is different.
It could be a family event involving the kids, or a more adrenaline-packed day with friends.
You could stay in your own part of the region or cover some serious ground.
The important thing is to stick with the date, even if it means adjusting your plans for wet weather, or losing part of your group if something comes up.
Otherwise, it might just never happen.
James Smith (33) had been thinking of doing an activities day for three to four years.
"The hard part was finding people who would say 'yes', no matter what happened on the day."
Then, one day, he mentioned the idea to Karitane farmer and sports fan Richard Penno.
"Debate soon raged over what we could do and how we were to go about it," says James.
"The decision was, do we do four things well, or eight things rushed?"
"We agreed that there was no easy way to organise this except pick a day and go for it, no matter what the weather conditions were like.
"We just said to ourselves, no matter what the weather was like on the day, we just needed to be able to adapt if needs be.
"For example, if the surf was no good, then we would go for a swim."
While others may prefer waiting until the weather is warmer to plan their day, James' group held theirs in early September last year because it bridged the end of the ski season and the beginning of spring.
"It's not too cold and the daylight hours are longer," James says.
And daylight hours are important when you have an ambitious schedule such as theirs:
6am: Surf Karitane.
9am: Golf Omakau golf course (9 holes).
12.30pm: Ski Treble Cone.
3pm: Down hill mountain bike.
4pm: Tennis.
5pm: Water ski.
With a plan that covered so many activities and so much distance they had to be disciplined.
"Everyone says you can't do it in one day, but you can.
"You tick something off and move on," says James.
"It's hard when you're enjoying something and the next thing may not be so fun."
This year, they're sticking to a similar format.
"I don't want to change it too much," says James.
"We may get a twenty/20 cricket game going.
"But we would need another team.
"We're coming up with the details still."
Seven people have already confirmed for September 5, but James is keen to keep the group fairly small.
"There's a problem with it becoming too big, too competitive if it's an organised thing.
"A healthy level of competition keeps it interesting but we want to keep it as a fun day out," he says.
Planning plays an important part in things running smoothly.
One of James' activities was biking down from the skifield after skiing at Treble Cone.
"We needed to have someone to drive the car down.
"We thought we might have to find a hitchhiker to drive it down at one point."
While their group is about sporting activities, you can plan according to your interests, fitness levels, mobility and whether there are children involved.
"Do what you love to do," says James.
The Otago Daily Times challenges you to get a group of family or friends together, go out and do what you love doing.
It doesn't matter if you stay in one place or travel the breadth of Otago.
Walk, run, play paint ball, ice skate - it doesn't matter as long as you have fun.
Diary of an activities day
By James Smith
• Slideshow: Otago Activities Day
The stereo was pumping and my car was full of surf boards, golf clubs, skis, mountain bikes and tennis rackets - all the gear we needed for our Otago activities day.
For years I had been thinking about doing this but, for one reason or another, it was hard to pin anyone down to give it a go.
Then Richard Penno got on board, and then Matt Luxton and Niven Winchester agreed to join us the day before our date with adventure, so now we were four.
I had high expectations for the day.
Even before starting, I didn't want it to finish.
6am Surf
It was an early start so we decided to stay at Richard's house at Karitane.
Rising from bed, we went straight to the window to look at the surf conditions.
The waves looked small but the weather was mild and, as agreed, we had to give it a go.
When we got to the beach the waves were a lot bigger than we had thought, breaking nicely.
The water temperature was not too bad, either.
A great start to the day.
We had only planned to be in the water 40 minutes, but after about an hour we had to drag ourselves out as we were already getting behind schedule.
9am Golf
We hit the road just after 7am, arriving at the Omakau golf course in warm and calm weather conditions.
When we arrived we only had time for a quick photo and a discussion about the rules.
We paired up and decided to play four-ball best-ball to help speed the game up.
With the rules of the haggle agreed on, we set off.
It was a great little golf course which we thoroughly enjoyed playing.
I won't go into details, but the result was terrible and questionable, with Matt and Niven taking the title and the beers that went with it.
12.30pm Skiing Treble Cone
Arriving at the top of Treble Cone we were treated to a magical day of spring skiing.
We only had two hours on the mountain but in that time we packed in plenty of runs.
The highlight of the ski leg was the impromptu Chinese downhill race.
We picked a line through one of the shoots in the Saddle basin.
Some friends, who had met us up the mountain, acted as race officials and spotters.
When all was clear the race started and a little over 30 seconds later it was finished.
3pm Downhill mountain bike
Right off the back of one mountain race we got straight into another, the downhill mountain bike.
Racing down the Treble Cone access road would have to be one of the most thrilling parts of the day.
Jostling for position, we all raced with what was a mixture of tactics, raw power and stupidity.
Flying into corners, braking as late as possible, or sitting in a slipstream waiting to pounce were the simple tactics.
There were some hairy moments and some very jarred bodies at the end of it.
But we all came out of it safe and sound.
4pm Tennis
On to the Wanaka tennis club.
Keeping in our golf pairings, we had a quick warm up before getting into a one-set game.
We probably should have warmed up a while longer.
I'm not saying we are bad tennis players, but it took a long time to even get into a short rally.
We all had ace counts that would match that of the great Rodger Federer, not because we could serve well, but because our return of serve was terrible.
5pm Water ski
The wind picked up and the lake got rough so the water ski had to be cancelled.
So we decided to play another set of tennis before retiring to our accommodation for a few early beers.
We sat on the deck watching the sun go down and reflected on the day.
What more could we do, what could we have done better? We all agreed that the day had gone smoothly and we were lucky to get fantastic weather conditions from start to finish.
As the sun slid down behind the hill someone said, "We could have got a game of twenty/20 cricket in."
We all looked at each other and said, "Let's work on it."