Introducing Fiordland & Southland

The bottom end of the South Island has some of the country’s most spectacular landscape. To the west is Fiordland National Park, with jagged misty peaks, glistening lakes and an air of forbidding remoteness. The park can be accessed via the world-famous Milford Track, one of the various trails that meander through dense forests and allow views of spectacular mountains and glacier-sculpted canyons. Fiordland is also home to Milford and Doubtful Sounds, with forested cliffs soaring almost vertically from the still, deep waters, and relatively easy to access by road, boat or kayak.

In Southland’s east, a sharp left turn off the beaten track, the peaceful Catlins are an area of bird-rich native forest, luxuriantly green farmland and rugged, windswept coasts. In addition to the forest birds the area is home to penguins, seals, sea lions, dolphins and the occasional whale. Wonderful accommodation abounds along wild beaches, in the midst of forests and in tiny waterside settlements.

Southland has the kind of New Zealand scenery that travellers dream of and postcards fail to capture. More than once, you’re likely to round a corner, stop in your tracks and just say ‘oh, wow’ before you reach for the camera.