Murchison s secret high flying South Island fishing spot
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Naomi Arnold visits New Zealand s secret bucket-list fishing destination
Down a nondescript country lane near Murchison is one of New Zealand s best-kept secrets: Owen River Lodge, a fly-fishing destination on the edge of Kahurangi National Park that few Kiwis know about, let alone visit. Up until Covid, more than 99 per cent of the lodge s clientele were from overseas.
Outside New Zealand, in international fly-fishing circles, the lodge is famous, and together with Murchison s rivers is spoken of reverently as a bucket-list fishing destination. Owen River Lodge took out gongs at the New Zealand Tourism Awards in 2018 and 2019, and guests ranked it #2 in New Zealand and #5 overall in Condé Nast Traveler s 2020 Readers Choice Awards, including in the Top 25 Resorts in Australia and the South Pacific - unheard of for a fishing lodge.