New Zealand is a place where it is very easy to get off the beaten track. Even though it feels like there is one main road around the South Island the the towns to visit are small, and the national parks in which you camp are even quieter. However, as the country’s 13th largest city (population 55,000), Invercargill feels even more off the beaten path than most. Most likely due to its claim as New Zealand’s southernmost city – it is incredibly remote.
Few people actually make the trek this far south except for family, and this was highlighted to me when a bunch of young hooligans called this out to us while taking an admittedly touristy photo of a bridge in a park. They were quite surprised to see visitors here just for the sights.
Like much of the lower South Island Invercargill is steeped in Scottish heritage and this really comes out in the architecture. While there aren’t too many “activities” to occupy you, there are many remaining Victorian and Edwardian style buildings still in use by businesses today. The best thing to do is take yourself on a walking tour of these borderline masterpieces.
This should only take a few hours and to be perfectly honest, the city probably only warrants such length. We arrived in the morning and left not long after lunch.
We parked our campervan near the iSite Visitor Centre, which is actually housed in the coolest iSite building I saw in 3 weeks in New Zealand: a grand white pyramid. Apparently it is the largest pyramidal structure in the Southern Hemisphere. My guess is that there isn’t a lot of competition, but New Zealanders seem to claim whatever they can.
Though to be fair, Australia also seems to claim whatever New Zealand rightly has a claim to (pavlova, Russel Crowe, Keith Urban, etc). Interestingly, Australia is yet to claim Burt Munro, who set a land speed record on a motorcycle in the 1960s which still stands today. Burt is from Invercargill and there is an exhibit dedicated to him in the visitors centre.
The museum is free and also covers a range of topics including maori art and artefacts, other art, tuatara (endangered reptiles) and and excellent exhibit on the Anzacs.
Within walking distance is the Water Tower, built of 300,000 red bricks in 1888 and was in use until 1934. The tower was used by firefighters in the hot dry summers as wooden buildings were prone to catching alight.
The Main Street is full of historic architecture that houses many modern businesses. There seemed to be a higher number of churches and adult stores in the area which I think raised more questions than it answered. After taking in the architecture we found a place for lunch, which just happened to be one of the best burger joints at which we ate the entire trip: Devil Burger. Even better was the $10 Tuesday special.
After this our self-guided walking tour started picking up steam and we found some even more impressive buildings. The City hall is just astounding and easily the prettiest building in the city. And just a block away was St Mary’s Basilica.
Unfortunately, this was very close to the end of the interesting things to see in Invercargill. Some might argue that considering we were headed straight for The Catlins that 4 hours was already too long to spend there. But when you’re not really constrained by time you can afford a few hours to see places not many others do.
Invercargill was definitely worth a brief stop, the history is surprisingly prevalent and buildings well-preserved, but stretch the legs, have some lunch, then move on and get back to the nature that New Zealand is so famous for.
Oh, and naturally the Invercargill Brewery was an essential stop on the way of the town to help fill the fridge. Tours run at 1pm weekdays for $25.
Planning a trip to NZ?
Interesting post Luke. I have only visited NZ the once and would love to go back and explore more. Invercargill looks like a great place to stop by.
Thanks Barry. There is SO much to see in New Zealand I think you could always be finding something new.
Nice post and lovely photos.
Haha! I drove through Invercargill (stopping briefly for supplies) on my way to Stewart Island, and spent a night there on my return to greet my parents (they joined me for 6 weeks of my trip around New Zealand) and I have to say I agree with you. There’s not much to excite anyone about Invercargill, and it definitely feels like a forgotten city. Apparently it has a huge Christmas shop there too!
Wow! For such an out of the way place you still found some neat things to do and see! Loved the architecture!
Loved reading this post. I love dark raw beer… (toured some breweries in Prague recently: awesome!)
Cheers!
Yessss, breweries are always a mandatory stop!