Check out our AA Traveller Guides Editor's picks of the top 5 experiences not to be missed in the Lower South Island!
1. Skyline Queenstown Luge
Strap on a helmet and jump on the chair lift at the top of Skyline Queenstown to access the famous luge start line. After an initial demo, you’re set free to race your friends and family down the hillside race rack.
2. Glenorchy Road
The 46km drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy is renowned for its jaw-dropping beauty. Drivable in 45 minutes, in reality you’ll want at least two hours to appreciate spectacular forest, dramatic cliff edges and lakes framed by mountains.
3. Taiaroa Head Nature Reserve, Otago Peninsula
One hour from Dunedin and named after a 19th century Māori chief, the windswept crag of Taiaroa Head boasts the southern hemisphere’s only mainland colony of albatross.
4. Otago Central Rail Trail
The Otago Central Rail Trail is New Zealand’s original Great Ride. By encompassing all that is warm and welcoming about Central Otago, this former railway track connects Middlemarch to Clyde over 152km and one to five days.
5. Kiwi Encounter, Stewart Island
Over 80% of Rakiura Stewart Island is protected national park, allowing native kiwi to flourish. Most active at dawn and dusk, if you’re using a headlamp, set it to red so it’s less startling.
