Southland Attractions

The Southland region, an area of rolling uplands and former swampy lowlands traversed by rivers, occupies the southern tip of the South Island.

The Fiordland area in the southwest is one of the most inaccessible and least populated parts of New Zealand. Here the deep valleys gouged out by glaciers were filled with water when the sea level rose and became fjords. On the east side of the mountains the valleys were dammed by terminal moraines and became long narrow lakes, such as Lake Te Anau (the largest lake on the South Island), Lake Manapouri, Lake Monowai and Lake Hauroko.