Last updated October 2026
Motu Rimu is a rural part of Invercargill City, on the southeastern side of the urban area rather than inside the street grid of the city centre. The name is te reo Māori. Toitū Te Whenua records it as a nohanga, a small settled place, in Murihiku, the southern district whose main town is Waihōpai.
Day to day this is farmland and large rural properties along Motu Rimu Road, not a neighbourhood of shops, schools or playgrounds. There is no reserve or walking track identified here; the interest is the quiet country edge of the city, with the New River Estuary in the wider southern landscape. People who live here drive into Invercargill for school, groceries and services.
Official Suburb Facts
- Land area
- 14.65 km²
- Location
- 7.8 km south-east of central Invercargill
- Council
- Invercargill City Council
- Neighbouring suburbs
- Woodend, Seaward Bush, Awarua Wetlands, Tisbury, Waimatua
- Ward or local board
- No local ward. Invercargill City councillors are elected at large. Motu Rimu is not covered by the Bluff Community Board.
- Getting there
- By road on Motu Rimu Road. The city bus network’s through-routes (Waikiwi to Newfield, Hargest to Clifton, and Waverley to Kingswell) serve urban Invercargill, not this rural area.
- Main shopping
- None in Motu Rimu. Everyday shopping is in central Invercargill, including Esk Street and Dee Street.
- Schools
- None based in Motu Rimu. Check enrolment zones with each school or the Ministry of Education before assuming a rural address is in zone.
About Motu Rimu
Motu Rimu sits in the rural portion of Invercargill City, where the built-up suburbs give way to the Southland Plains.
Invercargill City Council’s district map labels both the place and Motu Rimu Road on the southeastern side of the city, in the same broad landscape as the New River Estuary. It is not a village centre. Addresses here are rural properties, and the public face of the place is the road itself.
The Māori name is long established in official mapping. A Māori-language Wikipedia entry, drawing on Toitū Te Whenua (Land Information New Zealand) and Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa, describes Motu Rimu as a nohanga in the Murihiku district: a place where people live, but not a town in its own right. English-language descriptions of Invercargill likewise list Motu Rimu among the city’s outer localities, separate from the inner suburbs.
A verified translation or naming story for this particular place was not found in council, heritage or gazetteer sources checked for this guide.
Rimu is the common name of the native conifer, and motu is a te reo Māori word with several meanings, including an island or a clump of trees. Those are general language facts, not a confirmed origin for the locality, so they should not be treated as the official meaning.
Mana whenua for the wider city are Kāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu), represented in council partnership by Waihōpai Rūnaka and Te Rūnanga o Awarua. That is a city-wide relationship, not a history written specifically about Motu Rimu. No marae, urupā or heritage listing tied to this locality turned up in the sources used here.
European settlement of Invercargill began in the 1850s on the fertile Southland Plains, and the surrounding country later supported pastoral farming and, from the 1880s, an export dairy industry.
Motu Rimu fits that rural pattern rather than the story of a planned suburban subdivision. Published local histories do not give this locality its own founding date, school or hall, and those details have been left out rather than guessed.
Getting Around
Motu Rimu Road is the named public road through the locality. New Zealand Post’s Invercargill City postcode map places the Motu Rimu locality in postcode 9877. Travel is by private vehicle.
Invercargill’s public bus network, as described in a council infrastructure paper, is one urban unit made up of three through-routes: Waikiwi to Newfield, Hargest to Clifton, and Waverley to Kingswell, all departing from the BusSmart terminus on Tay Street. None of those routes is described as serving Motu Rimu.
The road is a rural sealed road, so expect open speed limits, farm traffic and limited lighting compared with city streets. There is no station, ferry or park-and-ride identified here. For trips into town, allow time for the drive to central Invercargill rather than planning around a bus timetable.
Services and the Rural Edge
There is no shopping centre, retail strip or school in Motu Rimu. A national list of Southland schools, compiled from Education Counts, does not place any school in this locality.
Rimu School, at 442 Rimu Road, is a different place: it is listed under Kennington and sits in the Southland District, even though its postal address uses Invercargill. Do not assume a Motu Rimu Road address is in that school’s zone.
Council playground and rural-reserve pages also have no Motu Rimu entry. Nearby rural reserves elsewhere in the city, such as Kennington Reserve and Myross Bush Domain, are separate places with their own access.
In town, Queens Park is the main public park, with a playground reached from Queens Drive. Motu Rimu itself is for living and farming, not for a programmed visit.
Anyone considering a move should treat it as country living inside the city boundary: space and quiet, with schools, supermarkets, health services and the city centre a drive away. Check a specific address for zoning, rubbish collection and school enrolment, because rural edges of the district do not always follow the same pattern as inner suburbs.
Near Motu Rimu
Just outside Motu Rimu, within 10 km of its centre, nearest first.
Places
Businesses
Where to Learn More
Invercargill City Council: council services, parks and contact details for the territorial authority that includes Motu Rimu.
Invercargill district map: council map labelling Motu Rimu and Motu Rimu Road within the city boundary.
Motu Rimu on Māori Wikipedia: short record of the name as a nohanga in Murihiku, citing Toitū Te Whenua.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Motu Rimu part of Invercargill?
Yes. It is inside Invercargill City, not a separate town. It is a rural locality on the southeastern side of the urban area, reached by Motu Rimu Road.
Is there a school in Motu Rimu?
No school is based in Motu Rimu. Children travel to schools elsewhere. Check the enrolment zone for the exact address, because rural zones do not always match the locality name.
Is Rimu School in Motu Rimu?
No. Rimu School is at 442 Rimu Road and is listed under Kennington, in the Southland District. The similar name does not mean it is the local school for Motu Rimu.
Does a city bus go to Motu Rimu?
The Invercargill bus network is described as three urban through-routes: Waikiwi to Newfield, Hargest to Clifton, and Waverley to Kingswell. Those routes are not described as serving Motu Rimu, so plan to drive.
Are there shops or a hall in Motu Rimu?
No local shopping centre or retail strip was identified. Everyday shopping is in central Invercargill. No hall or community reserve is listed for Motu Rimu on the council’s rural reserves pages.
What is the postcode for Motu Rimu?
New Zealand Post’s Invercargill City postcode map associates the Motu Rimu locality with 9877. Confirm the code for a specific letterbox, as rural delivery addresses can differ.
What does the name Motu Rimu mean?
A verified translation or naming story for this place was not found. It is a te reo Māori name recorded by Toitū Te Whenua. General meanings of the separate words should not be treated as the official origin.
Is Motu Rimu worth a visit?
Not as a sightseeing stop. There is no track, playground or visitor facility identified here. It is a place to live or farm, with parks and shops a drive away in Invercargill.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.
Explore Invercargill only lists suburbs officially recognised by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), and Motu Rimu is one of them. Suburb boundary: LINZ, CC BY 4.0.