Access

Bluff Hill lookout is at the top of Flagstaff Road, 2.1 km from the terminus of SH 1 at Stirling Point. Turn right at the signpost into Lee Street (which merges with Flagstaff Road). There is a large parking area 2.5 km up the steep hill from SH 1.

Track

This tar-sealed spiral winds its way to the summit engraving and lookout at the top of Bluff Hill, the spiritual ending of the South Island. Although Slope Point is the geographically surveyed southernmost point, it doesn’t have the power of Place emanating here. The track passes a series of interpretation panels on the natural and human histories of the area.

Polynesian History

Bluff Hill was known as Motupohue to early Maori, roughly translated as ‘island of convulvus’, an allusion to the giant white flower which still grows on the headland.

European History

Europeans also nicknamed it the ‘Gibraltar of the South’. Other European titles include ‘Old Man’s Bluff’.

Bluff was unique in that all the waterfront area was sold prior to the Treaty of Waitangi. Chief Tuhawaiki, the paramount chief of the South Island sold land to James Spencer, an eponymous ancestor for many Europeans in the area.