Home > Our Publications > New Zealand Outlook > 2001 > April

TUCKED away in a wild and wooded corner of the south east coast of the South Island is a region that is home to few people but houses an abundance of natural wildlife and stunning scenery that is reminiscent of New Zealand as it was at creation.
The Catlins region is a mysterious and beautiful place of deserted beaches and dramatic coastal scenery.
The rare yellow-eyed penguin can be found here, and seals are recolonising along the headlands. People are few - even in summer - and those who do visit are lovers of solitude and unique natural beauty.
Owaka - the-only community of any size in the area with some 400 inhabitants - can be found at the mouth of the impressive Catlins Forest Park, which offers some of the finest walking in New Zealand.
You can walk through a petrified forest and on the coast see the spectacular Cathedral Caves and blowholes. At Curio Hay you can see the smallest and rarest of marine species, the Hector dolphin.
If you feel like seeing some people and getting back into the modern world after your sojourn in solitude, take the Southern Scenic Route highway to Invercargill, New Zealand's southern-most city. But don't expect to see icebergs offshore - in Northern Hemisphere terms, this city is equal in latitude to central France.
Invercargill is a city of wide streets and tree-filled parks. Its architectural lines are elegant, graceful vestiges of Georgian and Victorian times, and it offers an excellent art gallery and museum with high-tech/audio displays based on the flora and fauna of New Zealand's sub-Antarctic islands.

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