Southland New Zealand

The rural service town of Gore has a special attraction for country music fans and trout fishermen. Every year in early June, Gore hosts the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards, which incorporates the New Zealand Line Dancing Championships.

If you like to flick a fly rod, spring and early summer are the best times to catch a brown trout. In addition to the Mataura River, there are many productive streams close by. While in Gore, visit the Hokonui Moonshine Museum to learn about the area’s history of illicit whisky distilling. West of Gore is Mandeville, where you can go flying in a restored Tiger Moth.

Winton is situated on the Invercargill-Queenstown highway. The town is named after Thomas Winton, a well-known stockman of the 1850s who regularly camped in the area.

Travellers find Winton a handy refreshment stop on the way north or south – there are character cafés and friendly pubs. If you’re looking for a holiday that’s big on tranquillity, the local rivers are well stocked with brown trout. You’ll find an assortment of hotel and motel accommodation. For an authentic Southland experience, check out the farmstays and country homestays in the area.

Tuatapere is located on the banks of the majestic Waiau River which is conveniently located on the Southern Scenic Route between Te Anau (98 km) and Invercargill (88 km) and is an ideal location to base yourself for a few days.

Tuatapere is a well-travelled tourist stop where one can enjoy the 'world famous' sausages for which Tuatapere considers itself the Sausage Capital of New Zealand.

There is a vast selection of things to see and do; beaches, lakes, historic sites, bush walks and a World Heritage area. Bushmans Museum, Orepuki Gemstone Beach, Port Craig Viaducts, Clifden suspension bridge, Limestone caves, Hunting, Tramping and Jetboating. the Hump Route linking Te Waewae Bay (Bluecliffs Beach, dolphins & whales) with Lake Hauroko, offering spectacular views over the South coast and inland lakes.

Invercargill dates back to the 1850s, when people from the Scottish settlement of Dunedin began buying land for sheep runs in the far south. Today it is the country's southernmost city.

From a visitor’s point of view, Invercargill is well-equipped. It has an excellent range of shops and a selection of lively bars and restaurants. Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco heritage buildings give the city character. The museum has a tuatara house and the rose gardens at Queens Park are beautiful during summer. The art gallery at Anderson Park exhibits quality art from the far south and throughout New Zealand. Local food specialities include oysters and blue cod.

The seaward edge of Fiordland National Park is a series of fourteen massive knife cuts, carved by the glaciers during successive ice ages. Towering, snow-capped peaks reflect in the midnight blue fingers of ocean that reach into the park's thickly forested interior, where you can find trees that are more than 800 years old. For sheer drama, few places of earth can compete with this remarkable natural environment.

In 1990 Fiordland was listed as a United Nations World Heritage site and given the name Te Wahipounamu - 'the place of greenstone', after the area's most treasured mineral resource.

A fiord is defined as a u-shaped glacier-carved valley which has been flooded by the sea. The fourteen fiords that fringe the southwest corner of the South Island were 100,000 years in the making, with the final details added during the most recent ice age just 10,000 years ago. The Maori attributed the creation of the fiords to a giant stonemason called Tute Rakiwhanoa, who hued out the steep sided valleys with his adzes.

On all sides of the fiords, spectacular waterfalls tumble incessantly as the region's plentiful rainfall finds its way to the sea.

The remaining two thirds of Fiordland National Park are covered by virgin beech and podocarp forest. A 500 kilometre network of walking tracks allows visitors to explore the primeval world of mountain peaks, alpine lakes and moss-carpeted valleys.

The port of Bluff is the home of Bluff oysters – reputed to be the best in the world. The oyster season runs from April until August, and the locals put on a lively festival to honour Ostrea chilensis (that’s Latin for Bluff oyster).

The maritime museum has exhibits that focus on whaling, oystering and shipwrecks. In Bluff you can catch a ferry to Stewart Island and Rakiura National Park, tour the aluminium smelter and get some exercise on the local walkways. In the Greenpoint picnic area, a viewing platform overlooks the ship graveyard. A signpost at Stirling Point indicates the distance to the South Pole and other parts of the world.

The Catlins Coast is a place of hidden waterfalls and river valleys, sea mammals and seabirds, rocky coastal bays and tranquil estuaries.

On the Catlins Coast you’ll find the Cathedral Caves; a series of sea caves. They are one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area. The two main caves join together within the cliff, and one has a 30 m (100 ft) high ceiling. Access to the caves from the road crosses private land, with a user fee being charged. The caves are only accessible 2 hours either side of low tide.

The Catlins River Walk, a five hour stroll through beech forest between the camping areas at Tawanui and the Wisp, is known for its beauty and rare native birds. Other walks lead to waterfalls, including the famous Niagara Falls (the irony of the name will become evident when you see them).

At Curio Bay you'll find an ancient geological phenomenon of international significance - the Petrified Forest. Fossilised trees, over 180 million years old, lie embedded in coastal bedrock. Nearby is Slope Point, the southernmost point of the South Island, with its dramatic windswept trees.

Lighthouses are a memorable feature of the coast - there's one at Nugget Point and another at Waipapa Point, scene of New Zealand's worst shipping disaster.

The Catlins Coast has revealed some of the oldest Maori artefacts in history. Maori legend has it that large hairy monsters inhabited the forested valleys of the area - their name was Maeroero, meaning wild man of the forest.

Foveaux Strait is the strait between the South Island, New Zealand on the north side, with the three large bays Te Waewae Bay, Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay, and the Solander Islands, Stewart Island/Rakiura and Ruapuke Island on the south. Its European discoverer was Owen Folger Smith in 1804 and it is named after Joseph Foveaux who was Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales at the time. The strait is about 130 km long (from Ruapuke Island to Little Solander Island), and it widens (from 14 km at Ruapuke Island to 50 km at Te Waewae Bay) and deepens (from 20 to 120 m) from east to west. The strait is a rough and often treacherous stretch of water.

Stewart Island Ferry Services (Bluff - Stewart Island) operate a scheduled ferry service and connecting bus service from Invercargill. Experience Foveaux Strait in comfort and style onboard their express catamarans and discover a natural world of lush bush and stunning coastline. During the one hour crossing keep a look-out for wildlife, especially sea birds. Watching mollymawks (albatross) soaring behind the ferry is a fantastic sight.

Of New Zealand's three main islands, Stewart Island is the southernmost and smallest (about 75km long and up to 45km wide). The island contains New Zealand's newest national park - Rakiura National Park.

In the Maori language, Stewart Island is known as Rakiura, which translates as ‘the land of the glowing skies’. This name probably refers to the aurora australis, an atmospheric phenomenon which is often seen in the southern sky.

About 85% of the island is a national park and there’s only one settlement of any size – Halfmoon Bay (sometimes called Oban), which offers a variety of accommodation. The majority of visitors come to hike the well-maintained tracks. Department of Conservation huts provide accommodation for overnight hikes.

Only on Stewart Island can you see tracts of virgin Southland native forest. Protecting these habitats, particularly on predator-free Ulva Island Open Bird Sanctuary (accessible by water taxi), is essential for the long-term survival of kiwi, yellow-eyed penguins, kakapo, dotterels, bats, weka, South Island saddlebacks and wetas (a large cricket-type flightless insect).

For anyone seeking peace and tranquillity, Stewart Island is the ultimate spot. There are superb bush walks and great launch cruises around some of New Zealand's most beautiful coastline. The island's amazingly clear and clean waters make it a snorkelling and diving paradise.

Due to an anomaly in the magnetic latitude contours, this location is well placed for observing Aurora australis.