Distance:
362km
(225miles)
Leaving Christchurch you’ll quickly discover there’s plenty to see as you head to Dunedin. There’s the aviation museum of Ashburton, along with its gorgeous parks and vintage railway. There’s Timar with its craft brewery, Botanic Gardens and Te Ana Rock Art Centre. And there’s Oamaru with perhaps the country’s best preserved 19th century limestone architecture of the Opera House, Forrester Gallery and Victorian Precinct.
The mysterious Moeraki Boulders have sat on the beach for 56 million years and are one of the world’s natural wonders. Perfectly spherical, they are truly surreal as the ebbing tide reveals them.
Dunedin is known as the ‘Edinburgh of the South’, with a deep Scottish heritage (the name itself stems from the Gaelic for ‘Edinburgh’). Scottish influences abound and there’s even a Robbie Burns statue in the centre of town.
Visit Lanarch Castle or take the superb Taieri Gorge Railway from Dunedin’s iconic ‘gingerbread’ Victorian station (one of the world’s great rail journeys). This is an old university town, built on the riches of the gold mining heyday, and the Victorian and Edwardian architecture is striking.
Discover the Otago peninsula with its dramatic seascapes and scenic drives along to the albatross sanctuary on the headland, home also to penguin colonies and fur seals.
The drive itself is a magnificent experience with stunning views around every turn – try going out and coming back on different routes to take full advantage.