Experience the best of Invercargill

Invercargill stands on the Southland plains, with wide streets named after Scottish rivers by its settlers, Victorian and Art Deco buildings, and a large green park, Queens Park, with rose gardens and a glasshouse winter garden. It is the home town of Burt Munro, who set a land speed record at Bonneville in 1967 on a motorcycle he had modified himself, and his story is celebrated in the city.

Bluff, the port town about 27 km south, has a signpost at Stirling Point marking the end of State Highway 1, and the ferry to Stewart Island leaves from its wharf. To the east, the Catlins coast has the petrified forest at Curio Bay, the lighthouse at Nugget Point and the sea caves known as Cathedral Caves. Fiordland lies to the west.

The Southland cheese roll, a slice of bread rolled round a cheese-and-onion filling and toasted, is the local snack, and Bluff oysters, blue cod and whitebait fritters are the seafood to look for. Winters are cold and windy, and on clear nights in the south the southern lights sometimes show. Summer days are long and mild.