We continued our journey northwards this morning through the town of Westport to Karamea. I had thought this drive was a very scenic coastal drive with several limestone arches along the coast to see but actually it wasn't, I'd mis-read the guide book!!! Half of it was an inland road through semi-tropical forests with not a lot to see, but the coastal route was nice but lacking limestone arches.
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| The coastline we passed en route to Karamea |
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| The West Coast |
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| A train |
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| Route to Karamea through the mountains |
Once in Karamea the tourist information was shutting as we arrived but the nice lady gave us a leaflet and sent us on our way. Karamea is a small town at the end of the road along the West Coast and unless you want to do long trekking walks or have access to a 4x4 vehicle there is not a lot to do here!! The limestone arches are actually inland and take a few days trekking to reach. So, we found a nice beach to relax on and have lunch. I even had a paddle until a bigger wave struck me when I wasn't looking and I was rather wet from the waist down.
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| Beach at Karamea |
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| Ruth getting splashed whilst having a paddle |
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| A wet Ruth returning to the dry land |
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| Footprints |
The afternoon took us the 100km drive back to Westport, where we took the Highway 6 towards Murchison, saying we would stop at the next campsite we saw...100km later in Murchison! The drive was beautiful though through the Buller Gorge in the late afternoon winter sun.
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| Return journey to Westport |
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| The Buller River Gorge |
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| The road passing under a cliff face |
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| The Buller Gorge |
ruth started the habit of falling in the sea on her 1st ever holiday. on arrival in whitby at 9 am she was unbalanced by a wave and fell headlong fully clothed. we couldnt even check into digs until that afternoon. she had to survive in underwear thereafter
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