The landmark sign at Bluff, signalling the end of the Te Araroa Trail, will be corrected, after Wilderness reader Earle Hasse found the Cape Reinga and Wellington signs pointed in the wrong directions.

The sign, which points to various landmarks, has Cape Reinga and Wellington around the wrong way (‘A curious sign’, September 2017), but Invercargill City Council, which was responsible for the sign, maintained it was accurate.

It has since investigated the matter and council roading manager Russell Pearson said it needs some “small adjustments”.

“I am unsure when and how this has occurred, but we will make some changes to get it as right as possible,” Pearson said. “We are planning to get this underway and, given the importance of the sign to the tourist photo opportunities, we will need to carefully plan when we adjust it.”

University of Otago School of Surveying lecturer Dr Paul Denys said, as well as the obvious error with Cape Reinga and Wellington, the coordinates shown for the location of the sign itself are actually out by 185m. The distance for the equator was also out by more than 50m.