Southern Scenic Route facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Southern Scenic Route
Route information
Maintained by NZ Transport Agency, Venture Southland, Destination Queenstown, Destination Fiordland, Clutha District Council, Dunedin City Council and Department of Conservation
Length	610 km (380 mi)
Existed	6 November 1988 (6 November 1988)–present
Major junctions
West end	SH 6 at Queenstown
	SH 6 and SH 97 at Five Rivers SH 97 and SH 94 at Mossburn SH 94 and SH 95 at Te Anau SH 95 at Manapouri SH 99 at Clifden SH 6, SH 98 and SH 99 at Lorneville SH 1 and SH 6 at Invercargill SH 1 at Balclutha SH 1 and SH 8 at Clarksville SH 1 at Waihola
East end	SH 1 at Caversham, Dunedin
Highway system
New Zealand state highways Motorways and expressways List

Official logo

On Lake Te Anau

The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the world's great undiscovered drives" in 2008.

Route

Current route

Invercargill Water Tower, viewed from Leet St

Purakaunui Falls, 17 km (11 mi) southwest of Owaka

The Route runs in a U shape from Queenstown to Dunedin. Skirting the eastern boundary of Fiordland National Park, it passes Manapouri and Tuatapere. At Te Waewae Bay the coast is reached and the route swings eastward towards Orepuki, Colac Bay and Riverton. At Lorneville the New Zealand state highway network is joined, and the Southern Scenic Route runs on State Highway 6 for just eight kilometres south into Invercargill.

From Invercargill it heads east through Fortrose into the Catlins then through Owaka to Balclutha. This part was formerly State Highway 92. The next section of rugged coastline with poor roading through Kaitangata is avoided, as the Southern Scenic Route follows State Highway 1 (SH 1) to Milton and Lake Waihola.

The Route leaves the highway at Waihola and climbs through Otago Coast Forest rejoining the coastline at Taieri Mouth. From here it follows secondary roads through Brighton and Green Island, ending where it meets SH 1 again at Caversham.

Proposed extensions

In early 2007 a proposal arose to extend the route northward beyond Dunedin through Waitati. In November 2007, the Dunedin City Council confirmed that it planned to talk with the Waitaki District Council about extending the route to Oamaru, an idea that was not adopted.