Paddling near Mataura, Southland

Mataura sits in Southland on the banks of the Mataura River, one of the South Island's great touring waterways. The river runs roughly 280 km from the Eyre Mountains to the sea near Bluff, passing through the town itself — including the well-known Mataura Falls — and providing a week-long source-to-sea packraft or kayak journey through rolling Southland farmland.