Giveaways
SOUTHLAND really is the place to get away from it all these holidays!
The Southern Scenic Route, which has a distinctive roadside logo, runs southward from Queenstown to Kingston at the foot of Lake Wakatipu. Kingston is famous for the Kingston Flyer steam train.
In the old days, when it ran all the way to Invercargill and Dunedin, the steam train used to meet the vintage lake steamer Earnslaw at Kingston. However, these days the steam train only runs between Kingston and Fairlight, and the Earnslaw only goes back and forth across the lake between Queenstown and Walter Peak Station.
From Kingston, the Southern Scenic Route continues southward to Lumsden, and then westward to Te Anau and Manapōuri, southward once more to the South Coast, eastward along the coast through Invercargill and the Catlins, and northward to Dunedin.
Of course, you want to do more than just drive or cycle along the main roads. So, in this post and Part 2 to follow, I describe some of the ways you can get sidetracked in Southland. And specifically, the western part, the gateway to the great lakes of Fiordland.
On this trip, you head south from Kingston till you get to Lowther, and then take State Highway 97 to Mossburn, and then west on SH 94 to a village called The Key.
At The Key, you head down the Blackmount-Redcliff Road, which seems at first like an invitation to getting lost.
But it saves time, assuming you’ve already been to Te Anau and Manapōuri, and you get a good view of the gnarly but little-known Takitimu mountains.
Past Whare Creek, the Blackmount-Redcliff Road becomes part of the Southern Scenic Route. It isn’t long before you come to the Rakatu Wetlands, down a short gravel road on your right.
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The Rakatu Wetlands are in the valley of the once-mighty Waiau River, which drains Lake Manapōuri and runs through Clifden and Tūātapere to the sea. The 1960s Lake Manapōuri hydro scheme reduced the flow of the Waiau, and the Rakatu Wetlands were recreated from former farms as part of an ecological restoration project to compensate.
The Rakatu Wetlands are a re-creation of lowland Aotearoa as it used to be, since just about everywhere that is flat in Aotearoa New Zealand used to be a wetland before being drained for farming purposes in the 1800s.
The Rakatu Wetlands are quite colossal. There is a lookout on the east bank of the valley and hiking trails around the wetlands, which sustain masses of birdlife as well.
From the Rakatu Wetlands, the Blackmount-Redcliff Road carries on over some hills and down into a valley as far as Blackmount, after which it undergoes a name change to the Clifden-Blackmount Road.
Everything in this section has now been superseded by ‘The Borland Country,’ published on 4 April 2025.
The next spot you get to is Clifden, which maybe gets its name from the picturesque, jungly, limestone cliffs that abound nearby.
Clifden has a very good campsite which I can definitely recommend, and a historic (1899) suspension bridge across the Waiau River.
Here are some views of the Clifden Suspension Bridge (now retired) which is unusual for having a deck made of wood.
The Manapōuri hydroelectric scheme, which I mentioned earlier in the context of the Rakatu Wetlands, drains Lake Manapōuri via the Manapōuri Power Station to Doubtful Sound at a rate that can exceed 500 cubic metres per second (cumecs). The Waiau of today only receives between 12 and 16 cumecs from Lake Manapōuri, though various tributaries boost the river’s flow somewhat by the time it gets to Clifden.
Another attraction near Clifden is the Clifden Caves. Like many cave systems in Aotearoa New Zealand, they are populated by glow worms emitting a bluish light.
Next week: I make the intrepid gravel-road journey to Lake Hauroko, travel further along the South Coast to Riverton/Aparima where I visit the historical museum, and visit a private railway museum at Fairfax, near Otautau.
If you liked the post above, check out my new book about the South Island! It’s available for purchase from this website.
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