Bottom Bus

Departures days and a full list of pick up times.......

Itinerary
Schedule and Times
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Our History

Our History

Bottom Bus began life with Ralph back in 1993 with a dinky old Toyota van running day trips Catlins for independant travellers especially the mushrooming backpacker market. The rugged scenery and wildlife of the Catlins were the highlights at a time when the Catlins seemed even more remote than today with many of the now sealed roads still gravel (loose chip) and locals that had never seen foreigners, ever!

But with a great amount of things to see and do it was obvious that the Catlins and Southern Scenic Route wouldn't stay hidden for long.

A couple of years later Ralph teamed up with Evan, who had a similar passion for the deep south and Bottom Bus was expanded to be a four day circuit. The Bottom Bus boys also aligned themselves with New Zealand's leading backpacker travel network, Kiwi Experience offering the get-on, get-off travel option allowing customers more freedom to explore the deep south at their own pace.

This meant the deep south had it's door even more open to independent travellers and Dunedin, the Catlins, Stewart Island, Te Anau and other southern destinations were seeing the benefits.

Rugby trips have been another pioneering development with Bottom Bus coordinating travel, tickets, meals and pre-match entertainment such as face-painting (and Nude Rugby!) for the big Super 14 and test matches in Dunedin and on occasions to Invercargill and Queenstown too.

Rugby is a classic kiwi experience and one in which the Bottom Bus crew have thrived on bringing to international visitors to the deep south. Watch this space for 2011 and Rugby World Cup in Dunedin with pool matches schedule for the new Stadium. [photo?]

Today Bottom Bus is still going strong and they operate with a small team of dedicated staff from their office and yard in Dunedin.