A highlight on the Southern Scenic Route, The Catlins offers a glimpse of rural New Zealand set amid native forests, fringed by clay cliffs and golden beaches.

It is a find for natural history buffs. Untouched forests host a range of native forest birds, like the tui, woodpigeon and bellbird, as well as the mohua, or yellowhead.

Here, you’ll find a world of waterfalls, including the tiered Purakaunui Falls, amongst the most photographed in the world.

This coastal stretch is home to an array of marine life – seals, sea lions and dolphins are regular visitors. Keep your eyes peeled, too, for the rare, but distinctive, hoiho, the yellow-eyed penguin.

Nugget Point, with its lighthouse perched on a spur of land, provides a spectacular viewing platform while, at Curio Bay, watch the outgoing tide reveal a 180-million-year-old Jurassic forest – one of only three such accessible fossil forests in the world. Another low-tide attraction is Cathedral Caves. Etched by the sea over centuries, its entrance towers 30 metres above the beach.

In all of your travels through The Catlins, there’s only one reminder … toitu te whenua … leave the land undisturbed.

Check out tides times for the Catlins here - choose the port of Bluff then add
30-40minutes.