Otago Museum Stories of the South Guided Tour

Visit: Otago Museum, 419 Great King Street, Dunedin 9016 New Zealand

The stories of the South are as rich and varied as the stunning landscapes, from lush pasture and tussock-covered hills to the icy heights of the Southern Alps. The way this land is used and valued by the people who call it home has changed dramatically across time.

From grass to gold, fur seals to flax, clay to coal, discover how the available resources shaped the human stories of southern New Zealand. Follow the lifeways of early Southern Māori journeying through the landscape, and the later waves of immigrants building prosperity from natural resources, industries and agriculture. Journey back through deep time in the region’s fossil record from the tiny fragment of crocodile jaw-bone from Otago’s ‘Everglades’ to New Zealand’s largest fossil, the 7m Shag Point plesiosaur.

See the world’s largest collection of articulated moa skeletons and the biggest raptor that ever existed, the giant Haast’s eagle. Wonder at the unique and diverse abundance of local wildlife, and hear the conservation success stories of the rediscovery of the “last” takahē.

Join this tour for these and more inspiring stories of the southern lands and southern people.