We finally arrived in Invercargill, the city that The Rolling Stones infamously made VERY disparaging comments about in 1965 when they were on tour. When Tim Shadbolt became mayor of Invercargill after being mayor of Waitemata City in Auckland, he famously said on being questioned in 1993: “I don’t care where, as long as I’m mayor.” It seems there is not a lot of love for this city! Probably one of Invercargill’s most famous sons is Burt Munro. If you are in to motorbikes and speed records, you will know his name, for those that don’t, Burt modified a 1920 Indian Scout motorbike and on the Bonneville flats, created a land speed record in the under-1,000 cc category on the 26th August 1967 that stands to this day. Inside E. Hayes & Sons, you can see Burt’s original motorbikes and lots of parts that he hand made for them. His story was made into a film staring Anthony Hopkins: The World’s Fastest Indian. There is even a replica shell from the film that you can have your photo taken in! E. Hayes & Sons is a fantastic store. It is part hardware store and part museum. Next to the entrance to the town park, there is a statue to Burt with an interesting little addition. We also visited Oreti Beach where Burt used to practice racing. It is wide and long.

We had fantastic flat whites at the Black Shag coffee shop https://www.facebook.com/blackshagboutiquecafe/. So good, the latte art stayed intact right to the bottom. There is also a magnificent water tower and some lovely fountains near the park.

Bluff – famous for it’s oyster and it’s food festival, Bluff is the most southern end/start of SH1, the road that takes you all the way to Cape Reinga at the very top of New Zealand. It also has some interesting street art. We did of course try the oysters and they are super tasty!

Maori creation stories tell how Maui, a legendary Polynesian voyager, pulled up from the sea floor the anchor stone Te Puka a Maui (Stewart Island/Rakiura) to act as the anchor for the great ancestral canoe Te Waka o Aoraki (South Island of New Zealand). A huge steel sculpture of an anchor chain was created by Russell Beck and it seemingly disappears under the Foveaux Strait. The other end of the chain, a twin sculpture, lies on the coast of Stewart Island at Lee Bay, the official entrance to Rakiura National Park and is a symbolic link between the mainland and Stewart Island.