TRIP 1 WEST COAST
Oparara Basin Arches © Getty Images
SPECTACULAR BEACHES
SIDE TRIP
Beaches on the West Coast are wild and windswept. They are also isolated and often dangerous if at the mouth of a river. Check tide times and weather forecasts. KAHURANGI POINT Wild, windswept and isolated with a large expanse of beach overlooked by a lighthouse built in 1903. SCOTT’S BEACH A spectacular sandy cove surrounded by steep cliffs covered in dense rainforest. The key feature of the beach is a huge rock that must have tumbled down the cliffs and onto the beach where it rests today. Scotts Beach to Kohaihai is part of the Heaphy Track but is a popular day walk.
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M U S T D O ’ S • W E S T COA S T
OPARARA BASIN With incredible limestone arches, caves and chasms, moody streams and untouched ancient rain forest, this is heaven for photographers. A 45-minute drive north of Karamea (about 25km), in the Kahurangi National Park, the Oparara Basin boasts impressive limestone formations in a rainforest setting. The area comprises magnificent limestone arches, caves and channels that have been carved out by moody streams that make it a photographer’s paradise. As well as the incredible geological formations, there is an ancient rainforest that is home to the Honeycomb Hill Caves that are world-famous for their collection of moa bones and other extinct bird species. Bring a torch so you can explore them properly. Because of the fragile environment, access to the caves is