Ōpārara Arch is the largest natural rock arch in the southern hemisphere. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
Ōpārara Arch is the largest natural rock arch in the southern hemisphere. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
The last few days of our road trip were full of sandflies, hours and hours of driving and some bloody stunning sights.
After an absolutely amazing afternoon and night in Karamea, Matt and I woke up eager and raring to go.
We were pretty much the only people awake in our jam-packed campsite at 7am, and the sandflies must have known it because they made a beeline straight to us.
We quickly got dressed and repacked the truck, took in the view for the last time and headed off to the Ōpārara Basin Arches.
Driving out of the campsite, the truck was swarmed by sandflies, and hundreds of them were attacking our feet.
The footwells on both sides were full of the little black bugs; swatting them away was becoming impossible, and it got to the point where they covered almost every inch of my bare feet.
I flicked my sandals off and sat cross-legged to protect as much of my bare legs as possible, and poor Matt was driving a manual truck down a bumpy gravel road, every other second leaning down to swat pesky sandflies off his own legs.
Let’s just say it wasn’t the safest experience I have had with Matt driving; however, finally, halfway down the gravel track, we managed to drive all the bugs out of the open windows.
The Ōpārara Arch is 219 metres long, up to 79m wide, and 43m high. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
After a bumpy trip, we finally made it to the lower carpark of the Ōpārara Basin, where we got ready for yet another walk. At this point, I’m a seasoned hiker - no, that’s a joke. All these walks and trails we did were relatively easy, beginner-level tracks that anyone could give a go, and I definitely recommend giving it a go if you have the chance.
We set off on a 30-minute hike along the tea or whiskey-coloured Ōpārara River to the largest natural rock arch in the southern hemisphere, the Ōpārara Arch.
After a steady uphill hike in the middle of another stunning West Coast rainforest, we rounded the corner and looked up to see the large cliff covered in trees and greenery forming the giant arch over the river.
At 219 metres long, up to 79m wide, and 43m high, the arch had plants and trees hanging from and growing on top of the ancient limestone, and looked like something from another planet.
The prehistoric limestone tunnel, formed by millions of years of the river running through it, was one of the most breathtaking things I saw on this trip.
After taking our time exploring the arch, climbing down to the riverbank at the bottom of the arch and back out again, it was 10am, so we had some breakfast before setting out for a long day of driving.
We had driven as far north as we could go along the West Coast of the South Island - now it was time to head back down and across to Tasman.
The natural limestone tunnels were formed over millions of years of the Ōpārara River running by. Photo / Maddisyn Jeffares
Matt did all the driving, along roads with some of the best views in New Zealand, and I tried as hard as I could to stay awake for our five-and-a-half-hour drive from Karamea to Tākaka.
I don’t know what it is about being the passenger on a road trip, but the moving car always seems to lull me to sleep. Anyway, while I was awake, I couldn’t help but lean out the window in complete awe of the raging rivers, windy roads and thick native bush.
Finally making it to Tākaka around 6.30 that evening, we stopped in for some fish and chips before heading off to find Rata Camp, where we would set up camp for the night.
Rata Camp is a private eco-campground nestled among the native bush in Golden Bay.
The campsite had a toilet, showers, a kitchen, a dining and common room, and we spent the night charging our devices and playing board games.
Now, the toilet was interesting. It was a compostable sawdust toilet; nothing new, I have seen many of them around. However, this bathroom had three walls and a shower curtain. Which would have been fine, except one of these walls was see-through.
When you sat on the toilet, you could see out, and people coming around the corner could see in. Safe to say, I made Matt stand in front of the see-through wall.
After a solid night’s sleep with hardly any pesky sandflies, and it now being New Year’s Eve, we were ready for our next day of adventure and driving.
It's a 40-minute round trip on the track to Wharariki Beach.
That morning we had a quick breakfast, packed up our truck, paid $20 each into the honesty box and headed off towards Farewell Spit, a narrow sandspit at the northern end of the South Island.
While we were thinking about walking out to the end of Farewell Spit, it was just way too windy, and there was sand flying around everywhere.
We moved on and drove further up the gravel road to Wharariki Beach.
To get to the famous white sandy beach and giant rock caves, we did a 40-minute return walk over farmland and through a section of coastal forest before crossing giant sand dunes and getting to the long, flat beach.
Once making it to the windswept beach, we walked along the flat sand with our feet in the water, taking in the giant rocks dotted along the coastline.
A cavern in the side of this rock face is a known resting spot for local seals.
We then walked into a large cavern on the side of the cliff face, where we saw a seal pup and its mother resting out of the wind.
After climbing back up the sand dunes and out onto the track, heading out to the carpark was just as stunning as walking in. As we came to the top of the track, there was a group of people all gathered around four baby peacocks.
Heading back to the car and covered in sand, we jumped in and headed off to Nelson’s inner city to figure out where we were going to spend our New Year’s Eve night.
Everywhere was booked out; of course it was. It was New Year’s Eve, after all.
We had a bit of a look around Nelson - however, both Matt and I were starting to get a bit tired, so we finally found a campsite with room available for us to park up for the night, and it was one of the best places we have stayed.
Matt and I enjoying the views at Wharariki Beach.
The bathrooms all had doors, the kitchen was one of the biggest we had seen at a campsite, and we spent the night playing board games, reading and charging up our phones.
It wasn’t the most exciting New Year’s Eve I have ever had, and Matt was asleep by 11pm. However, it was still quite lovely to just have a “relaxing night in.”
After New Year’s Eve, our trip started to wrap up fast; on New Year’s Day, we made our way to Hanmer Springs, where we spent hours in the hot pools just relaxing, as it was officially our last day away.
We spent the night at the Hanmer Springs Holiday Park, where we have stayed before. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people crammed into one place.
After spending the night in Hanmer Springs, we made our way back to Christchurch, then Matt took me to the airport, and within a few hours, I was home.
As much as I loved travelling, it was great to be home in my own bed, and after not being at work for three weeks and exploring so much more of the South Island in eight days than I did in the three years I lived down there, I was excited to return to work.
I really do love my job, and even though I joked that this job almost made me quit, at the end of the day, I’m not too sure I could mentally tolerate being on the road and staying somewhere new every single day.
