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Invercargill is New Zealand's most southern city, and the 'Oyster Capital'. Like Dunedin to the north, it shows a Scottish heritage in its elegant stone Edwardian and Victorian buildings. The city has an excellent museum and art gallery and many beautiful parks and gardens. Around Invercargill is some of the most fertile farming country in New Zealand and small towns feature great country cuisine and crafts. The Catlins State forest park lies on the east side of Southland and is a wonderful scenic attraction with quiet river valleys and untouched, undeveloped forest lined beaches. There is an abundance of wildlife in the park and also a fossilised 'forest'. To the south, over Foveaux Strait is New Zealand's third largest island and largest national park, Stewart Island. The whole island is a park and being a World Heritage Area it features pristine native forests, incredible marine and bird life and beaches, rivers and mountains galore. West of Invercargill is the wild, surf pounded southern coast with many remote and beautiful spots, and inland, the Mataura and other rivers have plenty of trout.
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