Crossword Genius

Smallest thing I missed on journey in region down under (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

otago

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'region down under' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'smallest thing i missed on journey' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'i' could be 'a' and 'a' is found within the answer.
'journey' could be 'go' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'go' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ot' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for otago that I've seen before include "part of New Zealand" , "Region of New Zealand around Dunedin" , "NZ location" , "NZ region round Dunedin" , "distant region" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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