South of the South

Finally we reached Slope Point, the southernmost point of New Zealand. Wild, wet and windswept, it is a place to see once and then never come back.



Slope Point

A short drive along the southern coast brings you to Invercargill. It’s a city, but a fairly bleak one with little to recommend it except its proximity to cool places such as Stewart Island and Fiordland National Park. The nearby town of Bluff, better known as the ‘Arsehole of New Zealand’, is New Zealand’s southernmost town. We stopped in for a drink in the local pub, expecting to meet some Bluff locals. We ended up talking to the barkeeper, who was Australian, and a farmer from the UK. A sign of how multi-cultural New Zealand has become.

We didn’t linger in the far south, but instead pointed the car northwards and set off on the scenic route to Te Anau, 150km away. It is the gateway to Fiordland, the largest and most spectacular wilderness area in New Zealand.