Blue said "The people are friendly everywhere, but the South Island is just a little bit more so than the north. :-)"
Not to mention they have a town named after me! Geraldine! Imagine my excitement to discover that! It's not a common name and to find a WHOLE town with that name was fun. (OK - so it's a small town - but hey! How many others can say they have a town named after them? OK -so perhaps it wasn't named after me - but why burst my bubble?)
And just for the record - I found no difference in the friendliness of the people. They were all wonderful.