Scenic route’s Aussie admirers
Southland’s most scenic road and one of the most praised in the world is the Southern Scenic Route. Australia Traveller magazine ranks it number 9.
‘‘Our Kiwi cousins have always been good at calling it as it is (the island in the south is the South Island, etc) so you know that when they call a route scenic, it will be.
‘‘Trailing along the southern edge of the South Island west from Dunedin before curling north through Fiordland to finish in Queenstown it delivers the best of the South Island – deserted beaches, native forests, rolling hills, snow-covered peaks, waterfalls, lakes and sounds – in one trip.’’
Top of their list is the mountain route from the French Riviera to Lake Geneva.
Other top world lists rank the Milford road as number one and it is 10th on another list that ranks the Rohtang Pass in India as the world’s most scenic drive.
The Southern Scenic Route was opened on November 6 1988, originally extending from Balclutha to Te Anau.
In 1998 it was extended from Balclutha to Dunedin and in 2010 the Te Anau to Queenstown section was added. The full length is 610 kilometres from Dunedin to Queenstown taking the traveller through the Catlins to Invercargill, around to Riverton and Tuatapere and up the Waiau Valley to Te Anau and on to Queenstown.
It offers the Catlins coast and forest, Waipapa Point, the Orepuki coast, Waiau Valley landscape, a vista of Fiordland, Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau and the drier country from Mossburn to Lake Wakatipu.
Hello again, dolly
The most retailed doll in the south went to 24 successive owners on March 13 1915. ‘‘At the Tapanui saleyards yesterday a little girl – Miss Quin – offered her doll for sale, the proceeds to go to the Belgian relief fund.
‘‘The doll was disposed of 19 times at 10 shillings, four times at five shillings and finally at 12s 6d.
‘‘ A Mr A Robertson, the final purchaser, generously handed back the doll to the little girl.
‘‘The total amount realised from this doll sale was £11 2s 6d. Four donated lambs were also offered in aid of the fund, and the proceeds from these brought the total to go to Belgian relief to £15 15s 6d.’’
We hope Miss Quin went on to a life in politics.
Nice work if . . .
Southland’s office boy with the highest responsibility, G. Baker, had the job of arranging the pile of claims against the Southland Provincial Council in the dire days of the 1860s.
He sorted the pile, making sure his own salary claim was near the top, and the pile was paid out as funds became available.
Some creditors had to wait years.
Only a loan from central government saved the Southland Provincial Council from bankruptcy after its unwise investment in railways and wharf.
Feedback
In regard to the discovery of the Te Ana au Cave, Diana Burrows says ‘‘Wilson Campbell was not with Lawson and George Pollard the day they entered the Caves.
Lawson wrote ‘Te Anau Anchorage’ and he describes how he and George found their way in past the waterfall’’.
We are always looking for anecdotes, scrapbooks, postcards, photo albums and slide collections relating to Southland.
A few specific items wanted – photos and information about elephant burials, Aurora cave, Manapouri village, coal mines, oil and gas rigs, early computers, lawnmower racing, hang gliding, Foveaux Strait crossings, the Wendon Church of Freedom, Bluff guns, Orawia cement works, Flying boats in Invercargill Estuary and Lake Te Anau, shipping in Invercargill estuary, coaches on Oreti Beach, aircraft, disasters and record pets, fruits and vegetables. Can you help?
‘‘You know that when they call a route scenic, it will be.’’
Australia Traveller ranked Southern Scenic Route ninth best in the world.