Bluff is by road from
Invercargill, and the southern terminus of the
Bluff Branch, the continuation from Invercargill of the
Main South Line. This was one of New Zealand's earliest railways, opening on 5 February 1867. Bluff is at the end of a peninsula that forms the western side of Bluff Harbour and Awarua Bay, with the port located in the relatively narrow entrance channel. It is on
State Highway 1, which terminates one kilometre to the south of the town at
Stirling Point. At Stirling Point, a signpost showing the distance and direction to various major cities and locations around the world, including the Equator and the South Pole. Bluff is dominated by Bluff Hill / Motupōhue (standing at ), which provides some shelter from the prevailing westerly winds. There is a path along the shore through native bush up to this point. The town is named for this
bluff, which was known to early
whalers as Old Man's Bluff. East across the entry channel from Bluff is
Tiwai Point, home to New Zealand's only
aluminium smelter and its wharf.
Alumina is shipped from
Australia and electricity is supplied by the
Manapouri Power Station in
Fiordland National Park. A chain sculpture on the coast near Bluff symbolises the Māori belief that Stewart Island is anchored to South Island; a similar sculpture in Rakiura National Park represents the other end of the chain.
Climate Like most of New Zealand, Bluff experiences an
oceanic climate (
Köppen climate classification Cfb). Winters are very mild and only occasionally go below freezing, even though in every month the temperatures had already gotten at least close to it. Likewise, summers are moderately warm and rarely exceed 25 °C, however, even in July and August they already have reached 20 °C. With 32.1 °C, Bluff's highest temperature has been above the one of
Auckland Airport. ==Demographics==