Set yourself up in Dunedin, and you’ve got the perfect launchpad. From here, the road leads to all sorts of places – unique, surprising, and sometimes downright breathtaking. Take a day trip if or linger a little longer and stay the night. With so many locations to choose from, these spots are a great starting point and have a way of rewarding anyone who takes the time. 📸 🚗

Moeraki Village – stop and get some of the best fish n chips around.
The Pigroot – experience the wonder of this other worldly landscape.
The Maniototo – enjoy the wide open spaces and big skies.
Sutton Salt Lake – wander around a completely unique and surreal lake.
The Catlins – there are so many great walks to choose from.

Which would you visit first? 🤔

Daily Photo – Fortrose

Fortrose feels like the sort of place you stumble upon rather than arrive at. I came in from Tokanui, the road rolling gently down to where the Mataura River opens into the sea, and paused at what is proudly billed as the southern gateway to the Catlins Coastal Route. It’s a peaceful spot now, but you only need to scratch the surface to find echoes of a much busier past.

From 1834, whalers set up camp here, their station short-lived but the beginning of Fortrose’s European story. Later came sawmills, blacksmiths, and the shipping trade, the little township booming around its 200-foot jetty. At the turn of the 20th century, Fortrose was buzzing with trade, schools, and churches. Then progress, as it often does, took a sideways swipe: the railway bypassed the town in 1911, the sea lane choked with sand, and traffic drifted to larger centres. Time weathered the buildings, and Fortrose shrank into quietness.

There are reminders if you look – a memorial to the locals lost in two world wars, the wide mouth of the Mataura itself, and the sense of a place that once mattered greatly. I left heading toward Mokotua.