Invercargill
- Queenstown
181 km (113 miles)
Approximately 2.25 hours
Road Conditions: State Highway
Invercargill is Southland's principal centre and the country's southernmost city. It is known for its elegant old department stores and wide, easy-to-navigate streets. Local food specialties include Bluff Oysters and blue cod. The museum has a tuatara house and an excellent exhibition about New Zealand’s subantarctic islands.
The first part of your journey takes you up the Oreti River, through a series of rural settlements. After Lumsden, the scenery becomes gradually more alpine. Enjoy a break in Kingston, the home of a remarkable vintage steam train. From here, the road clings to the edge of Lake Wakatipu nearly all the way to Queenstown.
The alpine resort of Queenstown is exciting, sophisticated and fantastically scenic. It’s the place to source almost any kind of adventure, including bungy, jet boating, horse trekking, rafting and river surfing. It’s also a destination for luxury experiences – gourmet food and wine, spa treatments and leisurely games of golf. In winter Queenstown becomes a cool ski town. In summer it’s warm and golden.
Scenic Highlights
Sam Summers' Hut Track
Exercise your mind as well as your legs on this three hour loop track. There's a lot to be learned about gold mining here.
Curio Bay and Slope Point
There are many things to capture your imagination at Curio Bay, including dolphins, penguins and fossilised trees.
Skippers Road
High above the raging Shotover River, Skippers Road creeps along the face of Skippers Canyon. Don't look down!
Scenery of Glenorchy
The only thing better than the drive to Glenorchy is the road to Paradise. How much scenery can your camera cope with?
Gibbston Valley vineyards
Raising grapes this far south is hard work, but one sip of the local pinot noir will tell you the effort is totally worthwhile.
Lake Wakatipu
Cruising across Lake Wakatipu on a restored paddlesteamer is a blissful way to appreciate the magnificent alpine scenery.
Catlins River Walk, Purakaunui Falls and Jack's Blowhole
Combine the Catlins River Walk with visits to Purakaunui Falls and Jack's Blow Hole - it'll be an amazing day.
Queens Park
Queens Park is Invercargill's pride and joy - a paradise of cool climate gardens and walkways.
Moonlight Track
It's not a walk in the park, but this challenging day hike promises to lift your spirits as high as the Southern Alps.
Oreti Beach and Sandy Point
Oreti Beach was Burt Munro's race track - a 26 kilometre stretch of perfectly smooth sand.
Activities
Queenstown
Bungy (1),
Golf (2),
Jet Boating (4)
Southland
Bird Watching (3),
Boat Cruises (3)
Tour and Sightseeing
Queenstown
Golf (1)
Tour and Sightseeing
Southland
Bird Watching (1),
Boat Cruises (2)
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Print Driving Route
