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otago/southland
Southern New Zealand embraces some
very dramatic coastlines, braided river valleys, golden-brown
tussock hills and glaciated slopes of the Southern Alps.
The Catlins rugged south eastern coast harbours abundant marine
wildlife. Across the windswept Foveaux Strait lies the dark
brooding shape of Stewart Island.
Deep in the interior of Otago-Southland, tawny rounded hills
studded with starkly silhouetted rock tors, dominate the scene.
Everywhere you look are wide-open spaces, the broad sweep of blue
skies and a feeling of solitude and peace. A continental climate
keeps the land dry all year round, hardened with frost in winter
and baked in scorching heat in summer.
Kayaking opportunities abound, like Dunedin’s Taiaroa Head,
an eco-tourism site with an albatross colony and the world’s
rarest penguins. Also on Lake Whatatipu, where that idyllic
winter resort, Queenstown, blends with the lake and mountains in
perfect visual harmony. From the head of the lake jet boats whisk
you up the Dart River where operators provide you with an
inflatable kayak to drift gently downstream. Commercial operators
based in Te Anau and Manapouri run sea kayaking tours on these
two lakes and on the spectacular Milford, Doubtful and Dusky
Sounds.
Nowhere is the kiwi culture of outdoor innovation and challenge
more evident than around Queenstown, ‘The Adventure Capital
of the World’. There is all the whitewater river action
anyone could possibly want.
The Shotover River is our most renowned adventure waterway, where
whitewater warriors battle the incessant flow of Grade 3 - 5
rapids in kayaks, rafts and jet boats. Several Queenstown
operators run wildly exciting rafting trips on the Shotover
putting in from Skipper’s Road. The river becomes more
confined and difficult as you proceed, culminating in boulder
drops, the long ‘Mother Rapid’ and the climactic
shooting of the Oxenbridge Tunnel. What a blast!
The Kawarau River also has awesome commercial raft trips, which
help to confirm Queenstown as the white-knuckle centre of the
universe. The Grade 3 - 4 run includes notorious rapids like
‘Smith’s Falls’, ‘Twin Bridges’,
‘Do Little, Do Nothing’ and ‘Dogleg’. Other
runs further downstream include the section below Roaring Meg
Power Station, where river surfing options are available. If you
want to surf rapids and ride whirlpools contact the surfing
companies in Queenstown and Wanaka. A Wanaka company also offers
Grade 2 rafting and sledging on the Upper Clutha River.
Discover this special corner of New Zealand where you can
revitalise your spirit. But be aware that it has a magnetic
attraction that will draw you back again and again.
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