Local Attractions

Discover the secrets of the world’s southernmost city. Southland is known for its quirky farm towns, which has Invercargill, a city of Scottish heritage, as its main hub. The quirkiness reflects in the architecture to the forgotten “world” that has been brought back to life by the locals. With all this, just having a wander around the city is a free yet interesting thing to do.

Invercargill has an urban population of just 50,000. Surrounded by farmland and Fiordland, visitors to Invercargill (‘The City of Water and Light’) can experience a unique brand of southern warmth, hospitality, and friendliness. Famously home to land speed record holder and inventor of the world’s fastest Indian, Herbert James ‘Burt’ Munro, Invercargill is also the gateway city for Bluff and Stewart Island.

Invercargill’s natural history is fascinating gardens and local museum. You can have great walks across long-stretching beaches and beautiful Queens Park. Alternatively, explore by bike in this extremely flat city providing an easy breezy ride.

Aurora Australis (The Southern Lights)

New Zealand is known for a lot of natural wonders, and Aurora Australis (The Southern Lights) has to be one of the most wonderful of all. But with the right conditions and the right location like Invercargill, the Aurora Australis will give you a night to remember. Aurora Australis may be lesser known than Aurora Borealis (The Northern Lights), but it is just as impressive! Only a few of us have had the privilege to see the electric phenomenon because we struggle to get far enough south. That’s with the exception of Australia, Chile, New Zealand and Antarctica. So if you have chosen New Zealand as your work and travel destination, then here’s yet another reason you have made the right decision! In Invercargill, you can see the aurora activity as a green and pink hue over the horizon and even dancing green veils lighting up the sky. To increase your chances of seeing the Southern Lights on your travels, you need a combination of the best time, the best weather conditions, and being in the right place.

E Hayes and Sons - The World's Fastest Indian

E Hayes and Sons is a hardware, homeware, giftware and engineering supply store like no other. The entire store is also home to the unique E Hayes Motorworks Collection representing one of the finest private collections of classic motorcycles, automobiles and engines in New Zealand proudly built around our centrepiece - Burt Munro’s ORIGINAL ‘World's Fastest Indian' motorcycle

Bill Richardson Transport World

Invercargill's Bill Richardson Transport World boasts the largest private collection of its type in the world. Comprising 15,000sqm, over 200 trucks form the heart of the collection, complemented by over 150 vintage petrol bowsers, VW Kombis, 7 of the 8 Henry Ford Letter Cars, Model T's, early Ford V8's from the 1930's, wearable arts, kids Construction Zone full of Lego.

Queens Park

Just north of Invercargill's city centre, Queens Park sprawls across 80 beautiful hectares. Special features include a beautiful and varied rose garden, a rhododendron dell, an azalea garden, dramatic tree-lined walkways, tracks through native forest, a Japanese garden, rock and herb gardens. An indoor winter garden features tropical and flowering plants; cacti are displayed in an adjoining house. Queens Park also has an impressive bird aviary, animal enclosures, children's play areas, extensive sporting facilities and cafés.

Prominent in the grounds of Queens Park is the Southland Museum and Art Gallery - a very distinctive pyramid-shaped building. A highlight of the museum is the Maori Gallery, which emphasizes the everyday aspects of pre-European life. The museum also has a Tuatarium, where you can see tuatara and find out about the captive breeding programme. Tuatara is native reptiles with a lineage that stretches back 225 million years - they were around when dinosaurs walked the earth.

Oreti Beach

Ten kilometres west of Invercargill, Oreti Beach was a key location for the film 'The World's Fastest Indian', which tells the story of Southland's motorcycling hero Burt Munro. At around 26 kilometres in length, the beach provided Munro with a testing and racing site for his modified Indian motorcycle. In February 1957 Munro set a New Zealand Open Beach record of 131.38 mph at Oreti Beach; in 1975 he raised this to 136 mph.

At the southern end of Oreti Beach is Sandy Point, a natural playground for walking, mountain biking and horse riding. In geological terms, Sandy Point is very young. The peninsula of sand, gravel and water-borne silt probably appeared some 4000-5000 years ago, when sea levels were higher. Long before the site of Invercargill was developed, the rich natural resources of Sandy Point supported an important Maori settlement called Oue. The arrival of sealers and whalers brought change, although the whaling station established there in 1836 was short-lived. Sandy Point's ancient sand dune forest of wind-sculpted totara and matai is rare and nationally important. Other native podocarps include rimu, miro and kahikatea. Native forest walks reveal a rich wildlife community from the shaded, ferny floor upwards.

Stewart Island - Rakiura

In the Māori language, it’s known as Rakiura which means ‘the land of glowing skies’. You’ll get an inkling why when you see the Aurora Australis which often appears in these southern skies.

Over 85% of the island is National Park, and most people come here for the hiking and bird watching. The island has just 28km of road, but 280km of walking tracks suited to short walks, day walks and multi-day hikes. Walk the three-day Rakiura Track and you will get the full experience of Stewart Island’s wild beauty.

Stewart Island is a haven for brown kiwi or Tokoeka, which outnumber humans on the island and are active day and night. Blue penguins and the rare yellow-eyed penguins waddle among the rocks. Offshore on Ulva Island, you’ll find a predator free bird sanctuary with dozens of native species.

The 400 or so Stewart Islanders are a proud and independent bunch, but they’re friendly too. There’s only one settlement of any size on the island – Halfmoon Bay, sometimes called Oban, which offers a wide variety of accommodation.