Southern Scenic Route: Dunedin to Invercargill

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Dunedin

   Dunedin is a Scottish city that happened to be built at the bottom of the world. Settlers of the Free Church of Scotland arrived in 1848 and named it after the old Gaelic name for Edinburgh, Dùn Èideann; they planted churches, a university and a great many stone buildings on the steep green hills around Otago Harbour. The gold rush of the 1860s brought money and made it for a time the richest town in the colony, which explains the Victorian railway station and the grand Octagon at the centre.

   Read the complete Dunedin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dunedin is where the day begins. Next is Catlins.

2. 2. Catlins

   The Catlins is the part of New Zealand that people tend to skip, and then regret skipping. It is a ragged southeastern coast, running from Waipapa Point on the Southland side to the Clutha River mouth, a country of dense rimu and rata forest that comes down to the sea, of black cliffs, remote beaches and heavy Southern Ocean surf. Papatowai is a tiny settlement near the middle of it, with Balclutha a long way north and Owaka a smaller place to the east, and you feel the isolation immediately. The road, part of the Southern Scenic Route between Dunedin and Invercargill, is mostly sealed but narrow and twisting, rarely straight for more than a few hundred metres.

   Read the complete Catlins write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Catlins comes up about 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is Invercargill.

3. 3. Invercargill

   Invercargill is the southernmost city of any size in New Zealand, a place of wide, flat streets laid out in a grid, low wooden houses, and a sky that is bigger and windier than you expect. Beyond it there is Bluff, the harbour town on the coast, and then a long stretch of sea before you reach Antarctica. About forty-seven thousand people live here, and the city likes to say it is the end of the line, which is a good reason to take a bike.

   Read the complete Invercargill write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 260 km.