Best surf spots in Catlins / Southland

A long, fast left-hand point tucked into the south-eastern corner of Te Waewae Bay, reached only across private farmland and worth the effort when the swell turns it on. One of the most isolated quality waves in the deep south.

A tiny, brutally cold Catlins settlement at the mouth of the Tahakopa River, where one of the country's genuine big-wave reefs lurks at the point while mellower beach peaks and a river bar wait for everyone else.

Several sand-bottomed peaks scattered around a halfmoon bay at the bottom of the South Island, where you pick your wave by position and share the lineup with surfing dolphins. Among the coldest, wildest waves in the country.

Punchy river mouth and sandbar peaks at the wild western end of Te Waewae Bay, where rights peel into the Waiau mouth and more peaks wander down an empty beach below eroding cliffs.

A long, sheltered right-hand point at Riverton Rocks that only wakes up on a solid southerly, peeling soft and slow down the rocks before the bay opens into mellow beach-break peaks.

A scatter of beach and reef peaks strung between the village and Nugget Point, punchy lefts and rights that fire on NE and E swell and stay glassy when the wind swings west, all on the wild northern edge of the Catlins.

The friendliest wave in the deep south, a forgiving sandy beach break with changeable banks for every level, plus a long right-hand point at the western end that wakes up when a big swell finally arrives.

A scattering of exposed reef and point breaks tucked into a wild Fiordland bay, where rare uncrowded Tasman waves are the reward for one of the hardest surf missions in the country.