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Learn about history: A look back at the lookout
Kakapo2 Says: The Bluff Hill Lookout is a great place to learn about the history of Bluff.On information panels with good illustrations you get a great overview of (nearly) everything, be it the geology, the settlement of the region, the way of life, wildlife. The panels are not only to...
Kakapo2 Says: The rocky outcrops you see at Bluff Hill are norite. This rock that never reached the surface during the volcanic activity in this region 235 million years ago is also called Bluff granite. Along the spiral track from the carpark to the lookout you find an information panel...
Kakapo2 Says: The Old Bluff Cemetery sits at a spectacular location at the end of Lagan Street. This is the highest street at the western end of Bluff, parallel to Bluff Hill.You have splendid panoramic views to the north, west and south – not so to the east because Bluff Hill blocks your...
Fred and Myrtle Flutey’s grave
Kakapo2 Says: You find Frey and Myrtle Flutey’s grave without consulting the register of the plots. Just walk up the staircase, and at its end it is on the right, one of the neatest and well looked after graves on the Old Bluff Cemetery. On the reddish headstone the letters are still...
Kakapo2 Says: I do not know if the new owners of the Paua House have become sick of people photographing their home and congregating on the footpath in front of it. Fact is that they have painted it with this dull purple colour, making the fresh and friendly white and turquoise look that...
Stirling Point - Bluff's southernmost point
Kakapo2 Says: Please do not read the tourism.net website – and if you do, do not believe everything you read there. ... because Stirling Point is NOT the southernmost point of New Zealand. Slope Point further east is located five kilometres further south. And all this, of course, excludes...
Kakapo2 Says: This building does not carry this name, only I named it the new Paua House because the paua shells on the wall reminded me of Fred and Myrtle’s living room. Of course, it not even close to the kitschy splendour of what Fred and Myrtle called home. But for someone searching...
Pies of legally killed protected birds
Kakapo2 Says: You would not get muttonbird pies in many places in New Zealand. The reason for it is that only Maori are allowed to hunt them at certain times of the year in Foveaux Street – which is the rocky strait between New Zealand’s South Island and Stewart Island. For all other...
Kakapo2 Says: No, I do not seriously suggest you buy a hotel. I am posting this because it reflects the general mood in town. There were two old Art Déco hotels for sale when we were in Bluff which really felt a bit like at the end of the world. There were only a few people in the streets...
War Memorial for the men who died in three wars
Kakapo2 Says: The War Memorial, located on Marine Parade opposite Tiwai Point (the aluminium smelter with the high industrial chimney on the other side of the port), was built of Bluff granite (norite), quarried from a site in McDougall Street.It was sculpted by Danish stonemasons and...
Enjoy the views from Bluff Hill and Lookout
Kakapo2 Says: Bluff is dominated by Bluff Hill which can be seen on a fine day from as far away as Fiordland. The land is connected to the mainland by a 300 metre wide isthmus at Ocean Beach.The Maori name is Motupohue which means “Island of Convolvulus” (convolvulus being a sticky weed)....
The Galley is a no-frills seafood diner that caters to the locals. It has a couple tables, but also caters for takeaway.
The walls are covered with Paua shells (abalone) that have been donated from visitors from around the world. Mostly this is to keep the local draw of the paua shells since the "Paua House" is no longer.
Favorite Dish: There are various types of fish, fritters, fries, etc. Mostly they are fried, but not all of them.
They have meal sets that include some cole slaw, fries, etc. For example the 1/2 ration of local Bluff oysters with the meal set was about $20.
However if you eat some fish and chips and a few fritters, you can eat for less than $15.
Written Aug 15, 2010
Address: 42 Gore St
Phone: 212-7391
The Stewart Island Ferry and connecting buses
Kakapo2 Says: The ferries that link mainland New Zealand and Stewart Island are catamarans for passengers only. We booked it well in advance in order to really get there on the day we had booked accommodation for.Catamarans surely are rather stable boats but Foveaux Strait is known to be...
Kakapo2 Says: You cannot miss this terminal even if you take the first left turn to the port and Maritime Museum – because the Foreshore Road goes straight down to the ferry terminal. Further down the main street (Gore Street) on which you automatically drive when you come from...
The gallery, located on the main street (Gore Street) presents creative works of local artists who mainly focus on the Southland area.
Written Mar 3, 2012
Address: Gore Street, Bluff
Phone: (03) 212 8922
Website: Email: artgallery@thelighthouse-bluff.co.nz
Bluff Oysters and Oyster Festival
Kakapo2 Says: I have tried them several times but I am still amazed how many people seem to love oysters. I am sure many people only eat them because they are expensive and considered a delicacy. On the other hand I know that I love quite some foods which make other people cringe. So...
Bluff Oyster & Southland Seafood Festival
TomorrowsAngel Says: The Bluff Oyster & Southland Seafood Festival is an annual event usually held on Foreshore road in Bluff, showcasing an array of local Southland seafood, fine wine and entertainment. Local restaurants and community groups offer a vast selection of fresh, succulent seafood....
This industrial plant is so huge that you see it from miles and miles away and everywhere. You easily recognise it from its high chimney. And believe me, it is bigger than you think when you see it from afar, for example from Marine Parade in Bluff or from the Bluff Hill lookout. You already spot it to your left when you drive from Invercargill to Bluff.
Tiwai Point is located at the entrance to Bluff Harbour. There it extends from the western end of the Awarua Plain.
Despite boosting New Zealand’s economy as one of the largest industrial plants in the country, the Aluminium Smelter is highly controversial.
The facility is the largest electricity consumer in New Zealand, and uses approximately one third of the total power of the South Island and 15 per cent of the total power countrywide. To supply the power to the smelter the hydroelectric Manapouri Power Station was built – which again was another hugely controversial project as a lot of land in Fiordland had to be flooded and Lake Manapouri created. Meridian Energy continuously supplies 572 megawatts of electicity for the period 2013 to 2030.
In 2008, Rio Tinto Aluminium was declared the second worst transnational corporation in New Zealand in the so-called Roger Awards. This was due to its threat to close the smelter if the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme went ahead. The smelter emitted about 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases (measured as carbon dioxide equivalents) in 2010. The corporation itself claimed in 2007 that the smelter was amongst the top five per cent of the world's 250 aluminium smelters in terms of low emissions. Everything is relative – because in 2007 for every tonne of aluminium produced 1.97 tonnes of carbon dioxide was released.
The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is owned by New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited, which is owned by Rio Tinto Aluminium (RTA) (79.36%) and the Sumitomo Chemical Company (20.64%). It opened in 1971. Most of the alumina ore comes from Australia, and most of the aluminium produced from it goes to Japan.
You find more technical details of the facility on the official Rio Tinto website http://www.riotintoalcan.com/ENG/ourproducts/1804_nzas.asp and on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwai_Point
Site tours
Tours are conducted up to two times per week (weekdays only). Numbers are limited and bookings are essential. Visitors must be aged 12 and over. Please phone 218-5889 for bookings.
Written Mar 3, 2012
Phone: (03) 218 5889
Bluff Hill Environmental Trust
Kakapo2 Says: This is a group which does a great job preserving Bluff Hill’s flora and fauna. Thanks to the location of Bluff (Hill) behind a narrow isthmus it is easier than in other places to trap predators like possums, rats, mustelids, mice, feral cats and hedgehogs.According to their...
Kakapo2 Says: I just have to post this photo ;-)As you might have read in my tip about the Stewart Island ferry, every passenger is allowed two pieces of luggage – which usually is a big suitcase or backback and some kind of hand luggage.Every passenger places his check-in luggage into...
The place the late Fred and Myrtle put on the map
If not for the ferry trip to Stewart Island, there would not be a reason to visit Bluff. Well, if you are not on a mission like me. I used our time before and after the trip to Stewart Island to...
Bluff is where all overseas relatives and friends get taken practically on their first day in Southland! I remember when I was about 14, and we drove down there in a procession of 2 cars (Mum and Dad,...
Southern tip is the home to Oysters
Located just south of Invercargill, Bluff is a sleepy coastal town. Basically it is the end of the road. From Stirling Point, looking south, you can see some of the smaller islands, but it is the end...
Not much to do in Bluff, and despite its claim, it is not NZ's most southernmost point, that honour belongs to Slope Point. Bluff however can be used as a gateway to Stewart Island
Fledgling Bluff page. Hmmm, that does rather imply that there's going to be some growth, stuff added at some point. Well, I wasn't in Bluff for very long. Long enough to get my photo taken at the sign...
Build your own Bluff page
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