The Catlins: New Zealand’s wild, rocky, southern shore

The first of three posts about the southern tip of the South Island, home to rare penguins and an ancient forest

THE Catlins is the English name given to a remote yet beautiful coastal area that wraps around the southernmost tip of the South Island of New Zealand. The area is known in Māori as Te Ākau Tai Toka, ‘the rocky southern shore’, though there are some good beaches as well!

The Catlins, this rocky southern shore, runs from the village of Fortrose, just east of Invercargill, to the town of Balclutha, and includes the southernmost tip of the South Island at Slope Point.

In this post, the first of three, I journey eastward from Fortrose to Curio Bay/Tumu Toka and the nearby Porpoise Bay. I will then continue my journey eastward in the next two posts, finishing up at Balclutha.

The Catlins and environs, with names over water and black and red highlight boxes added to the background map (©2019 Google). The main coastal road between Balclutha and Fortrose, two inland roads and some side roads have also been traced out in red. Sharpened using FastStone Image Viewer. North at top.

It’s an area notorious for wild weather, only guaranteed to be warm for two months of the year, from mid-December to mid-February, the height of the Southern Hemisphere summer.

Local landforms include names like Bleak Hill and Starvation Bluff, while, along with Maori names, many of the townships and villages have names like Fortrose, Balclutha, and Caberfeidh: names that tell you that many of the…