Invercargill and Southland

The last place people look, and one of the best

15 chapters Updated August 2026 Free Save Invercargill and Southland to My Move

Welcome

Nobody asks about Southland. They should.

Southland is the bottom of New Zealand — a broad green farming plain with Fiordland at one end, Rakiura across the strait, and Invercargill in the middle of it. A hundred and three thousand people in an area larger than Wales.

Unlike the other far-south options, this region has a base hospital. Acute medicine and surgery, an emergency department, intensive care, maternity, paediatrics and imaging, serving the whole region, with a rural network reaching into Fiordland and out to the island. Real hospital medicine with a wide catchment.

And Invercargill has some of the cheapest city housing in the country — not just "affordable relative to income", but among the lowest actual prices of any city. The cost is the weather: cool, changeable and windy, with a dark midwinter. If that doesn’t put you off, very little else here will.

Nau mai, haere mai ki Murihiku.

Ngā mihi nui — the Ethicare team

The long curve of Tautuku Bay in the Catlins, surf breaking along an empty beach backed by native forest — Tautuku Bay · the Catlins, east of the city

Invercargill and Southland, in short

The five-second version

~103k

People in the region

~10 min

A typical commute

Low cost

City housing in the country

~9.45pm

Midsummer sunset

Where

Murihiku — the southern plains, Fiordland north-west, Rakiura across the strait

Climate

Cool maritime. Mild summers, damp winters, constant wind — and enormous summer light

Main hospital

A base hospital in Invercargill serving the whole region, plus a rural network

Getting home

Flights via Christchurch or Auckland; Queenstown two hours for trans-Tasman

Contents

What’s inside

Visas, registration and money are covered once, in Moving to New Zealand.

Part one · Deciding

01 Welcome to SouthlandThe last place people look, in nine numbers — and six things you only learn once you’re here Read now → 02 Why SouthlandThe arithmetic, a typical week, and where else we might point you Read now → 03 Southland at a glanceA green plain between Fiordland and the Southern Ocean — and a 9.45pm sunset Read now →

Part two · The region

04 Healthcare in SouthlandA base hospital serving a region the size of Wales, and a rural network reaching into Fiordland Read now → 05 Where clinicians liveTen places compared — the city, the coast, Gore and Te Anau Read now → 06 Getting aroundEmpty roads, a ten-minute commute, and the distance to everywhere else Read now →

Part three · Money & home

07 Cost of livingSome of the cheapest city housing in New Zealand, and why most clinicians here buy rather than rent Read now → 08 Renting a homeYour application pack, bond, tenancy rights and the Healthy Homes standards Shared · national 09 Money, tax & bankingIRD numbers, KiwiSaver, opening an account and sending money home Shared · national

Part four · Everyday life

10 Food, shopping & the everydayBluff oysters, blue cod, cheese rolls, and a region with a real food identity Read now → 11 Fiordland, Rakiura & the south coastA World Heritage wilderness two hours away and an island national park an hour by sea Read now → 12 Driving & licencesConverting your licence, buying a car, a warrant of fitness and registration Shared · national

Part five · Belonging

13 Te ao Māori at workPronunciation, the words you will hear on the ward, and marae etiquette Shared · national 14 Finding your feet & your peopleHow friendship works here, and building a life outside the hospital Shared · national 15 Visas, registration & the moveWhich visa, what your qualification is worth here, and the order things happen in Shared · national

Sophie’s insight

Nobody asks me about Southland, and it is the region where I have seen people build the most life the fastest. A base hospital, a house bought outright within a few years, and Fiordland two hours away. The weather is the cost — everything else is in your favour.

Sophie Careem

Founder, Ethicare Resourcing

When you’re ready

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