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Top Attractions in Southland

Invercargill

Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff, which is the southernmost town in the South Island. It sits amid rich farmland that is bordered by large areas of conservation land and marine reserves, including Fiordland National Park covering the south-west corner of the South Island, and the Catlins coastal region. Many streets in the city, especially in the centre and main shopping district, are named after rivers in Great Britain, mainly Scotland. These include the main streets Dee and Tay, as well as those named after the Forth, Tyne, Esk, Don, Thames, Mersey, Ness, Yarrow, Spey, and Eye rivers. The 2013 Census showed the population was 51,696, up 2.7% on the 2006 census number.

Te Anau

Te Anau is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland. Lake Te Anau is the largest lake in the South Island and second only within New Zealand to Lake Taupo. The 2013 census recorded the town's population as 1,911. The town has a wide range of accommodation, with over 4,000 beds available in summer. Tourism and farming are the predominant economic activities in the area. Lying as it does at the borders of Fiordland National Park, it is the gateway to a wilderness area famed for tramping and spectacular scenery. Many tourists come to Te Anau to visit the famous nearby fiords Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. The town is also used as a base for those undertaking the Milford Track and the Kepler Track, the latter being a 4-day loop from Te Anau. Visitors to the area also partake in activities such as kayaking, cycling, jet boat riding, fishing and hunting, farm tours and seaplane/helicopter sightseeing. In 2014, readers of New Zealand's Wilderness magazine voted Te Anau as the best location in New Zealand for tramping opportunities. Rising on the west side of Lake Te Anau, the Kepler and Murchison mountain ranges are evident from most of Te Anau. Many species of bird life are also found locally, notably the endangered Takahe which can be found at the Fiordland Wildlife Park. The Department of Conservation office in Te Anau is active in protecting endangered native birds Te Anau hosts the Kepler Challenge in early December each year. Te Anau is connected by highway with Invercargill to the southeast, Queenstown to the northeast, Gore to the east, and Manapouri to the south. It is at the beginning of the Milford Road, the section of State Highway 94 that leads to Milford Sound, which lies 120 kilometres to the north. A local attraction is the Te Ana-au Caves across Lake Te Anau from the town. The caves include an underground glowworm grotto, which can be viewed from a punt during daily guided tours. Te Anau has two schools; Fiordland College and Te Anau Primary school, a H & J Smith department store and a Fresh Choice supermarket.

Fiordland

Fiordland is a geographic region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western-most third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys. Indeed, the name "Fiordland" comes from a variant spelling of the Scandinavian word for this type of steep valley, "fjord". Fiordland features a number of fiords , of which Milford Sound is the most famous, though Doubtful Sound is larger and has more, and longer, branches . Situated within Fiordland are Browne Falls and Sutherland Falls, which rank among the tallest waterfalls in the world, and New Zealand's three deepest lakes, Lake Hauroko, Lake Manapouri, and Lake Te Anau. Several other large lakes lie nearby, and Fiordland and the surrounding parts of Southland and Otago Regions are often referred to as the Southern Lakes. This part of New Zealand, especially to the west of the mountain divide of the Southern Alps, has a very wet climate with annual average of 200 rainy days and annual rainfall varying from 1200mm in Te Anau to 8000mm in Milford Sound.

Te Ana-au Caves

The Te Ana-au caves are a culturally and ecologically important system of limestone caves on the western shore of Lake Te Anau, in the southwest of New Zealand. It was discovered in 1948 by Lawson Burrows, who found the upper entry after three years of searching, following clues in old Māori legends. It later became a major tourist attraction for the area, as the part of the caverns close to the lake shore is home to glowworms. The unofficial name used by the national caving association is Aurora. The caves are geologically young and hence there is only one tiny stalagmite. The Māori name Te Ana-au can be translated as "The Swirling Cave" in reference to the water running through it. Since the caves lie in the Murchison Mountains and are themselves very fragile, access is restricted. Commercial guided tours by punt through the water-filled caverns run daily, operated by Real Journeys.

Curio Bay

Located near the southern end of New Zealands South Island, Curio Bay is a coastal embayment best known as the site of a petrified forest some 180 million years old. It also hosts a yellow-eyed penguin colony, arguably the rarest of penguin species, with approximately 1600 breeding pairs in the extant population. The area along with Porpoise Bay is home to the endemic Hectors dolphin, and southern right whales have also been observed. Curio Bay is one of the major attractions in the Catlins, attracting around 100,000 visitors per year. The town of Waikawa has an information center for tourists. The now petrified logs, from ancient conifers closely related to modern kauri and Norfolk pine, were buried by ancient volcanic mud flows and gradually replaced by silica to produce the fossils now exposed by the sea. The fossilised forest grew at a time of semi-tropical climate and before grasses and flowering plants had come into existence. The original forest of cycads, conifers and ferns was buried by massive floods of ash and volcanic debris either directly from a volcanic eruption or from later heavy rain on a barren volcanic mountain. Distinct bands of fossilised vegetation exposed in the cliff face indicate that in between such floods, the forest grew back at least four times over a period of some 20,000 years. Following this, the area remained buried over millions of years. Silica started to impregnate the wood and eventually turned it into stone, preserving not just tree stumps and wood, but in some places also fern fronds and leaves. Known fossil forests of this age are very few throughout the world, and this is one of the most extensive and least disturbed of them. The overall area stretches for 20 kilometres from Curio Bay to Slope Point. At low tide, the remaining tree stumps and logs are exposed and clearly visible. A short walkway leads from the car park at the end of the sealed road to a viewing platform over this internationally important area. It is strictly prohibited to damage or remove anything from the area.

Southland Astronomical Society

The Southland Astronomical Society is the southern-most astronomical society in the world. Based in Invercargill at the southern tip of New Zealands South Island, its small, active group of about 36 amateur astronomer members participate in a variety of astronomical activities including education with groups and school children, deep sky observing, astrophotography and aurora observation. The society operates the Southland Astronomical Society Observatory and telescope at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, with public viewing nights during the winter . The telescope is a fork mounted 30 cm diameter Cassegrain design. The society meets monthly to discuss general astronomical topics and receive presentations of astronomical interest. The society has a small library which holds a range of astronomical texts and magazines both contemporary and historical. The society publishes a monthly newsletter for members.

Rakiura Track

The Rakiura Track is a 29-kilometre tramping track on Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand, and one of the New Zealand Great Walks. It lies within the Rakiura National Park and can be walked over a one- to three-day period. It generally follows the coastline for a large parts of its length, passing small inlets, large bays and mudflats, before crossing steep hills covered in bush during its middle section. There are two huts on the track, at Port William and the North Arm of Paterson Inlet, and many people overnight at each. There are also camping sites available at Maori Beach, Port William and North Arm. Large sections of the track have been gravelled, without this, the track often degrades into mud. This is due to two factors, the peaty nature of the soil, and the large amounts of rain that Stewart Island receives during the year. In general, the track is well-maintained, and of easy to medium difficulty. The given track length does not include several additional kilometres of paved road at the start and end of the walk from Half Moon Bay. The track is equipped with huts for the use of trampers, though these must be booked in advance. The huts are equipped with firewood, flown in by helicopter as no roads connect to any of the huts and trampers are not allowed to cut their own wood. There are no cooking facilities in the huts, therefore trampers are advised to carry their own stoves and cooking equipment. There is a store in Oban where gas canisters can be purchased as well as other necessary supplies. Walking the Rakiura Track also offers the unusual opportunity to see kiwi in their natural environment. Visitors can reach Stewart Island either by commercial ferry or by flying from Invercargill Airport on a service operated by Stewart Island Flights.

Percy Burn Viaduct

Percy Burn Viaduct is located in the far south of the South Island of New Zealand. It is reputedly the largest surviving wooden viaduct in the world. A former logging tramway, it is now a closed footbridge and the most popular feature of the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track. During the early years of the twentieth century, logging companies exploited much of the native timber of New Zealand. The Marlborough Timber Company, one of the countrys largest forestry companies, was looking for new areas of forest to mill, and managed to secure the logging rights to an inhospitable and difficult to access area of timber close to Te Waewae Bay in the islands southwestern corner. Access was originally only available by ship, and a wharf and settlement were built at Port Craig, but 25 kilometres of bush tramway were still needed to transport logs to the wharf. These had to cross four large, deep burns, and four large wood-trestle viaducts were built to accomplish this. The largest of these crossed the Percy Burn. Built in 1923, it was 125 metres in length and 36 metres high. Unfortunately for the company, the timber was not of high quality and proved costly to log. Coupled with falling timber prices, the Port Craig operation was quickly in trouble and was abandoned in 1928. Restoration of the viaduct took place during the 1990s, as part of work on the new Hump Ridge walking track.

Routeburn Track

The Routeburn Track is a world-renowned tramping 32 km track found in the South Island of New Zealand. The track is usually completed by starting on the Queenstown side of the Southern Alps, at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu, and finishing on the Te Anau side, at the Divide, several kilometres from the Homer Tunnel to Milford Sound. The New Zealand Department of Conservation classifies this track as a Great Walk and maintains four huts along the track: Routeburn Flats Hut, Routeburn Falls Hut, Mackenzie Hut, and Howden Hut; in addition there is an emergency shelter at Harris Saddle. The track overlaps two National Parks; the Mount Aspiring National Park and Fiordland National Parks with the border and highest point being the Harris Saddle. This area gets much less rain than the Milford Sound, and the forests are very different, especially on the eastern side of the saddle, which due to less rainfall is predominantly made up of New Zealand red beech and mountain beech, with relatively few ferns. The track spends a long time on the high ridges around Harris Saddle, with great long-distance views in many directions. The track has a long history of use dating back to the 1880s.

Lake Te Anau

Lake Te Anau is in the southwestern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. Its name was originally Te Ana-au, Maori for The cave of swirling water. The lake covers an area of 344 km², making it the second-largest lake by surface area in New Zealand and the largest in the South Island. Lake Te Anau is however the largest lake in Australasia by fresh water volume. The main body of the lake runs north-south, and is 65 km in length. Three large fiords form arms to the lake on its western flank: North Fiord, Middle Fiord and South Fiord. These are the only inland Fiords that New Zealand has, the other 14 are out on the coast. Several small islands lie in the entrance to Middle Fiord, which forks partway along its length into northwest and southwest arms. The lake lies at an altitude of 210 m, and since its maximum depth is 417 m much of its bed lies below sea level. Several rivers feed the lake, of which the most important is the Eglinton River, which joins the lake from the east, opposite the entrance to North Fiord. The outflow is the Waiau River, which flows south for several kilometres into Lake Manapouri. The town of Te Anau lies at the south-eastern corner of the lake, close to the outflow. Most of the lake is within Fiordland National Park and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. Other than the Te Anau township, the only human habitation close to the lake is the farming settlement of Te Anau Downs, close to the mouth of the Eglinton River. Between these two settlements the land is rolling hill country, but elsewhere the land is mountainous, especially along its western shore, where the Kepler and Murchison Mountains rise 1,400 m above the surface of the lake. Two New Zealand Great Walks start at the lake. The Milford Track starts at the northern tip of the lake and the Kepler Track starts and ends at the south tip of the lake at the Waiau River.

Browne Falls

Browne Falls is a waterfall above Doubtful Sound, which is located in Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. In a temperate rain forest, the falls cascade down to the fiord near Hall Arm. Heights of 619 metres and 836 metres have been given for the falls. Their source is a tarn called Lake Browne which when full, overflows down the side of the mountain face . The stream makes 836 m height difference over 1,130 m horizontal difference, thus the mean gradient of stream is 42 degrees. This comparatively low angle makes the falls less impressive. The falls are one of the two candidates for the title of New Zealands highest waterfall. The other is sourced from a tarn behind Elizabeth Island which is also in Fiordland. The falls are named after pioneering aerial photographer, Victor Carlyle Browne, who discovered Lake Browne and the associated falls on one of his flights over Fiordland in the 1940s. There are at least two other notable waterfalls falling to Doubtful Sound: Helena Falls and Lady Alice Falls.

Ulva Island

Ulva Island is a small island about 3.5 km long lying within Paterson Inlet, which is part of Stewart Island/Rakiura in New Zealand. It has an area of about 270 hectares , the majority of which is part of Rakiura National Park. It was named after the island of Ulva in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland and was formerly called Coopers Island. Ulva Island's relative isolation, but easy access from Stewart Island has allowed it to become an important natural resource area. It is a sanctuary for both birds and plants, holding species that on the mainland of New Zealand are rare or have died out. In 1997, the island was declared rat-free, following an eradication program, and extirpated birds have been reintroduced to the island. The birds include the South Island saddleback , yellowhead and Stewart Island robin. Other birds on the island that are rare on the mainland include the Stewart Island subspecies of southern brown kiwi , rifleman , yellow-crowned and red-fronted parakeet, and South Island kākā or forest parrot, as well as several other species. The endangered yellow-eyed penguin uses the island for breeding sites. Occasionally rats make their way to the island but are caught in a network of traps. In 2010 twelve rats were found on the island, including a juvenile, indicating that a breeding colony was present. The Department of Conservation currently maintains the public portion of the island including its predator free status. A small portion of the island (approximately 8 hectares or 20 acres between Sydney Cove and Post Office Bay) is privately owned.

Clifden Suspension Bridge

The Clifden Suspension Bridge is an historic suspension bridge near Clifden, New Zealand. Built in 1899, it spans the Waiau River and is 111.5 m long. aka the "Iron Bridge" The bridge has been accessible to pedestrians only since 1978. In April 2010 the bridge was closed to pedestrian traffic due to safety concerns outlined in a report commissioned by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, the organisation that cares for the bridge. The safety issues were identified after a routine inspection of the bridge after an earthquake the previous year. After repairs, the bridge was re-opened to pedestrians in November 2013. The bridge, constructed of twenty-seven steel cables attached to concrete pillars, still has its historic wooden decking. It is listed as a Category I Historic Place by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

Port Craig

Port Craig is located along the south coast (Te Waewae Bay) of the South Island New Zealand near Tuatapere. It was a small logging town born in 1916, with 200+ men women and children living there in its prime. Like other New Zealand bush towns, Port Craig was inhabited by hardy kiwi bushmen and their families, recent immigrants and a few others trying to keep clear of the law. The Malborough Timber Company had a large scale plan to log one of the countries last significant coastal forests. The company planned big, they built the Dominion's largest sawmill, an extensive tramway system, port facilities and township all without road access. The bush was worked by the Lidgerwood overhead logging cable system (gantry) that weighed over 50 tonnes. The immense size of the gantry meant that it was very difficult to relocate in the inhospitable forest and after one major shift, the gantry was left redundant, crippling the local logging industry. All that is left of the town is considerable relics including the gantry base, a large English built wince (built in Hull) that operated on the wharf and thousands of bricks. There is also a fairly complete bakers oven and the original school building that is now used as a trampers hut.

Bluff

Bluff is a town and seaport in the Southland region, on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the southern-most town in New Zealand and, despite Slope Point and Stewart Island being further to the south, is colloquially used to refer to the southern extremity of the country (particularly in the phrase "from Cape Reinga to The Bluff"). According to the 2006 census, the resident population was 1,850, a decrease of 85 since 2001. The Bluff area was one of the earliest areas of New Zealand where a European presence became established. The first ship known to have entered the harbour was the Perseverance in 1813, in search of flax trading possibilities, with the first European settlers arriving in 1823 or 1824. This is the foundation for the claim that Bluff is the oldest permanent European settlement in the country. However, the missionary settlement at Kerikeri was both earlier and larger. The town was officially called Campbelltown in 1856, became a borough in 1878, and was renamed Bluff in 1917.

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