Its easy and frequent air access provides visitors with the option of starting their South Island experience in the south. It is an easy two hour drive from Invercargill to Fiordland and Queenstown and two and a half hours to Dunedin via State Highway 1. Offering good quality and a wide range of accommodation, excellent shopping and restaurants, Invercargill is a convenient place to stay. The Southland Museum and Art Gallery is home to the only living species from the Dinosaur Age - the Tuatara. The Roaring Forties Experience at the Museum provides an accessible introduction to the world of the Subantarctic.
Gardens are a feature of Southland with a wide variety available for the visitor to take in.
From Maple Glen at Mokoreta, Marshwood and Queens Park at Invercargill to Waimea Wanderings, a garden tour of delightful farm gardens in the heart of rural Southland, garden enthusiasts will gasp in awe of the magnificence and beauty of the abundant gardens. Home to the famous Bluff oysters, visit the unique Paua House, Stirling Point and the Maritime Museum to complete your experience in the town where Highway 1 begins. Travelling inland from the rugged coastline of the south you will discover the green, mainly flat, fertile lush farmland which Southland is known for. Dissecting these plains from the mountains of Northern Southland to the south east coast is the internationally known Mataura River, Its reputation as one of the world's best brown trout fisheries, sees anglers from all parts of the globe testing their skills against these wily brown trout, but it is not only the Mataura River which sees the Southland being known as a fisherman's Mecca. A place to restore the soul.