The Catlins
Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → New Zealand → The Catlins
Although not as rarely visited as it once was, the Catlins will still provide you with a nice breather from the meandering hoards. I don’t think you’ll find many tour buses on these roads. You’ll be absolutely sick of beautiful views after driving through the area, especially if you have sunsets like we did. Perfect rolling hills dotted with fluffy grazing sheep, beautiful coastal views, and lovely bays and inlets abound. You can crank through the area from Balclutha to Invercargill in around 3 hours, but that would be a terrible waste (if you’re trying to do that, just take SH 1 and you’ll make it in half the time). There are so many great stops in the region, I highly recommend planning to spend the night and stopping to enjoy some of the amazing sites. Or at the very least, get up at the crack of dawn and spend all day on the drive. Side note on driving, there’s not a whole lot of gas here, so fuel up when it’s available. On the plus side, if you run out, your walk to the nearest town will be very scenic.
Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → New Zealand → The Catlins