Those of us who live in the Central Otago / Southland region know that we are pretty lucky! We want to share with you some of the amazing features and places of our region, so that you can get a good overview of what is available and then, get out on the paths and hiking trails and get amongst it.

“Central” refers not to our location in the Otago region, but rather that we are located as far from the sea as it is possible to get in New Zealand. Our region is a mixture of complicated topography made up of Mt ranges and basins which run roughly north south. The unifying factor is the underlying schist basement rock, the source of the characteristic stonework that graces much of Central’s heritage buildings. Our region is also rich in human history beginning about 1000 years ago with Moa-hunting Polynesians, pioneers, farmers and gold diggers from the 1850’s. Queenstown has itself grown from a permanent population of 400 in 1940 to present day where we are the fastest growing town in NZ and are on track to becoming the South Islands first inland city.

Changes under a new land tenure process has resulted in the freeholding of large areas of land from Crown pastoral leases, with most of the higher land going to the conservation estate. This is creating many new legal access routes and a network of high country conservation parks of inestimable benefit to walkers. Walkers should bear in mind that often they are crossing private farm land, and always obey signs and behave responsibly to make as little impact as possible on both the land itself, and the operation of the farm.