Visit Karamea’s limestone arches which have a relaxed ‘off the beaten track’ feel. The area is a natural wonderland, with the nearby famous Heaphy, Wangapeka & Karamea-Leslie Tracks and the Oparara Basin with the Honeycomb Hill Caves & Limestone Arches in the Kahurangi National Park.
The area was certainly known to our early mapmakers and the “natural bridges” or arches are marked on old Karamea maps dating back to the 1880’s.
The 82 kilometre track through Kahurangi National Park, connecting the Aorere Valley in Golden Bay with Karamea on the West Coast of the South Island, is a fantastic adventure for moderately fit people of all ages. It is usually covered in around five to six days.
In the North West corner of the South Island of New Zealand a ghost is awakening. A long-forgotten gold miners’ road is being revived as a mountain biking and tramping trail – connecting the old dray road in the Lyell (Upper Buller Gorge) to the mighty Mokihinui River in the north. The 80km-long Old Ghost Road will traverse majestic native forest, open tussock tops, river flats and forgotten valleys.
Depending on the season, anything from 20 to 200 NZ fur seals dot the rocks at this seal colony, 16km from Westport. Pups are born from late November to early December and can be seen playing in the pools.
The Cape Foulwind Walkway (1½ hours return) extends from the seal colony near its southern end, 4km along the coast to Cape Foulwind, passing a replica of Abel Tasman’s astrolabe (a navigational aid) and a lighthouse. The walk’s northern end is accessible by car from Lighthouse Rd.
Geoff Schurr & Ray Moroney, two leading cavers and educationalists established underworld Adventures Ltd in 1987. It was upon this experience that Underworld Adventures was created to provide four distinct internationally acclaimed cave & karst experience. Underworld Rafting & The GlowWorm Cave Tours are adventures in one of NZ’s largest unmodified Cave Systems complete with spectacular Stalactites & Stalagmites creations & galaxies of GlowWorms that are unequalled on our planet. Adventure Caving is a full-on exploration style activity in a superb sporty active water cave complete with abseils, climbs, crawls and squeezes. See their website link above for more details.
Based at Tauranga Bay on Cape Foulwind, 20km south of Westport the beach provides both first timers with a safe and invigorating environment to learn in, as well as providing some world class waves for the more experienced surfers. They offer lessons for new surfers and coaching for the more advanced levels looking to up their skills in the water, or simply hire a board and wetsuit and do your own thing.
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