The Southern Scenic Route is a

tourist highway A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoint ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

linking Queenstown,

Fiordland Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes ...

Te Anau Te Anau is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. In Maori, Te-Anau means the Place of the Swirling Waters. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland. Te Anau is 155 kilometres north of Invercargill ...

and the iconic Milford Road to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

via, Riverton,

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of ...

and

The Catlins The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southl ...

. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the world's great undiscovered drives" in 2008.

History and development

The Southern Scenic Route concept and name were conceived at an informal gathering by Tuatapere residents John Fraser and

Les Hutchins Leslie Hutchins (8 December 1924 – 19 December 2003) was a New Zealand tourism operator and conservationist. Together with his wife, he bought a tourism company in 1954 that is today RealNZ; it still remains mostly in family ownership. Hutchin ...

in November 1985 and confirmed at a public meeting in January 1986.Julie Walls (ed) ''Southern Scenic Route Visitor Publication'' 7ed, Focus Publications, Te Anau, November 2006 The promoters then negotiated with road and tourism authorities and local government. The project was a first for New Zealand and approval was a slow process. At one stage,

traffic sign Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...

s were installed in a clandestine operation. The Route opened officially on 6 November 1988, initially running between

in the west and Balclutha in the east. It was extended from Balclutha to

in 1998 and from Te Anau to Queenstown in 2010.

Route

Current route

The Route runs in a U shape from Queenstown to

.route map on official website
/ref> The first stretches of the route are along State Highway 6, along the southern coast of

Lake Wakatipu Lake Wakatipu ( mi, Whakatipu Waimāori) is an inland lake ( finger lake) in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland. ''Lake Wakatipu'' comes from the original Māori ...

. The route turns west before skirting the eastern boundary of

Fiordland National Park Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of , and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. The park ...

, where it passes Manapouri and Tuatapere. At

Te Waewae Bay Te Waewae Bay is the westernmost of three large bays lying on the Foveaux Strait coast of Southland, New Zealand, the others being Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay. Twenty-seven kilometres in length, the western end of the bay is mountainous, with ...

the coast is reached and the route swings eastward towards

Orepuki Orepuki in Southland, New Zealand is a small country township on the coast of Te Waewae Bay some 20 minutes from Riverton, 15 minutes from Tuatapere and 50 minutes from Invercargill that sits at the foot of the Longwood Range. Once a thrivin ...

, Colac Bay, and Riverton. At Lorneville the

New Zealand state highway network The New Zealand state highway network is the major national highway network in New Zealand. Nearly 100 roads in the North and South Islands are state highways. All state highways are administered by the NZ Transport Agency. The highways were ...

is rejoined, and the Southern Scenic Route runs on SH 6 for just eight kilometres south into

. From Invercargill the route heads east through

Fortrose Fortrose (; gd, A' Chananaich, sco, Chainry) is a town and former royal burgh in Highland, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is on the Moray Firth, about north-east of Inverness. The burgh is a popular location for trying to spot bottlenose dol ...

and into

the Catlins The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southl ...

, then through

Owaka Owaka is a small town in the Clutha District of South Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest community in the rugged, forested Catlins area, close to the border with Southland, some south of Balclutha on the Southe ...

to Balclutha. This part was formerly SH 92. The next section of rugged coastline with poor roading through Kaitangata is avoided, as the Southern Scenic Route follows SH 1 to Milton and Lake Waihola. The Route leaves the highway at Waihola and climbs through Otago Coast Forest, reaching the coast at Taieri Mouth. From here it follows secondary roads through Brighton and Green Island, ending where it meets SH 1 again at Caversham.

Proposed extensions

In early 2007 from blueskin.co.nz
/ref> a proposal arose to extend the route northward beyond Dunedin through Waitati. In November 2007, the

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Ju ...

confirmed that it planned to talk with the Waitaki District Council about extending the route to

Oamaru Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the ra ...

, an idea that was not adopted.'Blueskin Road proposed for Scenic Highway' on blueskin.co.nz, retrieved 19 November 2007
/ref>

References

External links

Southern Scenic Route
{{coord missing, New Zealand Roads in New Zealand Tourist attractions in Southland, New Zealand Scenic routes in New Zealand The Catlins Transport in Southland, New Zealand State Highway 1 (New Zealand) State Highway 6 (New Zealand)