GORE TO LAWRENCE

An undeniable and infectious energy courses through the rural area where Southland stands shoulder to shoulder with Otago. Like the trout in the famous Mataura River, it may not always be visible to the naked eye, but taking time to cast a line will reap rewards.

Luckily, both

Southland and

Otago support the Highlanders Super Rugby team or the union of these two deep-south regions might not be so harmonious. To the west of the Southland-Otago provincial border is Gore, a junction town known for the fertility of its surrounding land and the size of its local trout, and to the east is Lawrence, with notable history and a picturesque appearance today.

The Highlanders' logo of a swordwielding Scot is an excellent choice of mascot for this salt-of-the-earth area. Listen carefully… that gentle rolling ‘R' is a lingering inheritance from tartan-clad forefathers. Those early Scottish settlers who worked so hard to transform tussock into pasture were hard-working and business-minded. And their strong moral compass tended to point directly back to their homeland. This remains top farming territory today and a large portion of the population is involved in farming (formerly grain, now sheep and increasingly dairy) or processing the results.

The trout-rich Mataura River twists and turns like a gymnast's ribbon through the Southland plains, detouring around the hills that rise from the fertile and flood-prone land. The Southland Syncline is a mountainous fold that runs from the Takitimu Mountains in the west to the Catlins on the eastern coast. Thanks to the movement of the nearby Alpine Fault, a waylaid part of the syncline is hundreds of kilometres north near Marlborough. The Hokonui Hills are a recently upthrust addition to the landscape (merely millions of years old), and their shadow casts across Gore and the surrounding Waimea Plains. This changing landscape is to the visitor's benefit; long, ruler-straight roads cut a severe line across the fertile Waimea

Plains until they hit the foot of the surrounding ranges with a thump, and trail their way up, around and over into Otago. Driving distances are manageable and the small towns are rich in history and character. Many give in to the lure of nearby Queenstown and Milford Sound and merely pass through Gore and the plains. However, with goldmining, moonshine-distilling, cycle trails, high-country churches and a world-class collection of art, there is much to seek out in this surprisingly surprising patch.