In a post on Facebook, the Invercargill City Council said the Southland city had “mysteriously disappeared”.

On further investigation, it appears the city had not quite disappeared but simply required a few zooms to appear on the map.

Despite this, other nearby smaller towns given greater prominence on Google Maps include Gore and Bluff, with both showing up ahead of Tim Shadbolt’s old haunt.

An elaborate joke, or a simple IT error, the council appears to see the funny side of the situation, saying online, ” If you’re trying to find us, maybe just type in “That place near Bluff?'”

They went on to add “For years, we’ve been Southland’s best-kept secret—cheese roll capital, the Burt Munro Challenge, and so much more”, adding “Clearly, Google is trying to gatekeep this paradise—and honestly? Fair enough”.

In their post, the council also jokingly took aim at Gore saying “whoever in Gore that got us removed, I will make sure that your next cheese roll is stale and not with garlic butter.”

People responding to the post managed to see the funny side of the situation as well, with some seemingly even happy for Invercargill to be excluded.

One person said, “All good with that. The less they know about our little part of paradise. The better. And there’s always Gore.” Another said, “That’s great, it’s now a secret”.

Other people also had elaborate reasons as to why Invercargill was not showing up immediately on the map, with one person saying the council had forgotten to pay its maintenance fee to Google and another posting, “We have to buy it back in our rates bill.”

Invercargill City Council spokesperson Lisa Knight told Stuff they were not sure if the city’s recent omission from Google Maps was just a temporary blip or “subterfuge by one of our rivals (we’re looking at you, Gore)”.

Knight said they have reached out to Google asking that they put Waihōpai Invercargill back on the map while also seeking answers as to why they were dropped off.

She added that despite Google Maps not showing Invercargill, the city is still around.

“The cheese rolls are still rolling, our infamous southern hospitality is still ready and waiting to welcome anybody who can find us, and our main man – Henry the tuatara – is still standing staunch in his brand new home, Te Moutere Tuatara Island, in the award-winning Queens Park.”

This is not the first time, however, that one of the big tech giants has drawn the ire of a New Zealand city.

In 2012, Apple mistakenly misplaced Dunedin International Airport in the Octagon, while Timaru Airport was marked as being in a Christchurch suburb.

Both errors occurred during an update of Apple Maps.

Google has been approached for comment.