Bluff, New Zealand
Bluff is the southernmost town in the South Island of New Zealand. It forms to Invercargill itself the second largest town in the district town of Invercargill. She also belongs to the larger settlements of the Southland region. At the 2006 census the town had 1,788 inhabitants, a population decline of 147 people since 2001, and 290 people since 1996.
Bluff is one of the areas in New Zealand, which were the earliest settled by Europeans (around 1823). From 1856 it was known as Campbelltown, before it was renamed in 1917 in Bluff.
The town lies about 30 kilometers south of Invercargill on the southern tip of a peninsula that delimits the natural port of Bluff from the west. Only about one kilometer to the south is the Stirling Point, after the Slope Point one of the southernmost points of Mainland New Zealand ( including the two large main islands count). Here ends also New Zealand 's most famous highway, State Highway 1, which runs through a length of 2047 kilometers, both islands in north-south direction.
In addition, a lengthening of the Main South Line, the Bluff Branch, to the village. From passenger trains this line is no longer approached already for a long time. The port of Bluff serves as an important base for New Zealand Antarctic trips and is also the home port of the fishing fleet oysters in the Foveaux Strait. Opposite the harbor entrance is located on the Tiwai Point aluminum smelter, a peninsula, which in 1971 began operating. The area between the South Island and Stewart Iceland to be home for the juiciest and best tasting oyster population. Twice a day, a catamaran ferry between the port of Bluff and Oban, the only settlement of Stewart Island.
Bluff is a station on the Southern Scenic Route.