Can you pinpoint Tuatapere on a map? You might be in a minority of people who can, writes Thomas Bywater

Over the past 24 months, as New Zealanders, we’ve been encouraged to do something new and explore different parts of our backyard. But just how good is our collective sense of direction? It seems parts of the motu are still a mystery.

In a quest to test how well you know New Zealand we asked Herald readers to play our Tiki Tour test. Tens of thousands of you responded and stuck a digital pin in the map. Some guesses were closer than others.

The closest guesses ranged from an average 44km off the mark to an enormous 5,207km. They took anywhere between 3 and 8 seconds to place. After which point guesses are not much more than that, a blind stab at the map.

There are landmarks that loom larger in the mental map than others. It took most just three seconds to point out Egmont / Mt Taranaki. Similarly speedy was Taupō, although the average guess was a little wider off the mark. (120km out, versus 53km for the Maunga.)

However, it appears that Southland was the biggest mystery to the Herald readership. The further from Bluff and Invercargill, the less certain we were about these places.

Never mind “Where did Kupe first make land?”

“Where exactly is Ruapuke Island?” is an enigmatic riddle for the ages.

Least known places: mapped

Select the views to see all 244 places ranked in order of difficulty to find.

Putting Tuatapere on the map

Apart from Invercargill - which was the fifth quickest found town - much of Southland was a mystery.

Nine out of 10 of the bottom ranked places on the map were located in the region.

The south of the South Island was bottom of the pile in terms of our ability to find places.

Some of the more remote and lesser visited parts of the Country are found in Fiordland and the South Coast of te Waipounamu.

Secretary Island in deepest Fiordland ( average of 640 km off the mark, and a mode of 1226) was one. The island in Doubtful Sound has a long pre-European history and holds a special place for conservation. Still there are not many people who can find it on a map. Possibly because it is very hard to get to and there are few tour companies apart from Real Journeys, who will take you there.

Between Tokenui, Orepuki and Tuatapere, people trying to find the Southland towns were out by an average of 760 km. That’s not to say there isn’t anything of interest along the Foveaux Strait.

From petrified forests and the Catlins coastal route, there are several attractions that New Zealanders would love to visit but they’d be hard pressed to locate.

There are plenty of projects aimed at increasing the profile of New Zealand’s southernmost places. One of the most ambitious is based in Tuatapere.

The Hump Ridge Track was begun in 2001 as a way to bring tourists into the area which had previously been full of logging mills. Hiking out of Te Waewae bay it was widely considered one of New Zealand’s hidden gems for trampers. This could soon change.

In 2019 it was selected for Great Walk status by the Department of Conservation.

“There has already been an increase in usage of the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track since the 2019 Great Walk announcement,” said Aaron Fleming, DoC’s Southern South Island Director.

“Turning the Hump Ridge Track into a Great Walk means elevating it to the status of walks such as the Routeburn, Milford Track and Tongariro Northern Circuit.”

He hopes The newfound status is will do more than put “Tuatapere on the map” but also “bring recreation, conservation, and economic benefits to the region.”

Where is Ruapuke Island?

The place fewest New Zealanders could find on a map is at the very edge of the map. Tucked between Bluff and Rakiura / Stewart Island, the Ruapuke is hidden in the shadow of the better known Southland landmarks.

Uninhabited apart from some beehives, rare yellow-eyed penguins and a lone cannon - captured by Ngāi Tahu chief Tūhawaiki.

The island of 'two hills' is now privately owned by the descendants of Tūhawaiki.