But! Let's revisit our time in magical Karamea. (named after me? a possibility.) Karamea and the Oparara Basin are located just about as far as you can drive if you're going straight up the west coast--eventually the road ends in the Kahurangi National Park, and to get to the north end of the west coast, you either have to walk through, or drive back down to Westport and all the way around. (Hint: We drove all the way around.)
The weather continued to be be misty and rainy, with pockets of sunshine here and there during our stay in Karamea, but on the way there we encountered some very intense fog that was thick as peanut butter (according to Yukon Cornelius. Hermie said pea soup... But you eat what you like, and I'll eat what I like.)
Jordan had the pleasure of driving around the curve laden cliffs with the steep drops with the deepening night and mysterious weather, and he made sure we all survived. (Jordan says, It wasn't all that bad really. The road was mostly empty of traffic, and there were only like a couple ax murderers. The hippies keep them away I think.) (Lizzy says: it was pretty terrifying.)
The fog broke instantly and suddenly and we neared Karamea, and we pulled up to our hostel, Rongo Backpackers, with a warm glow inside. Lizzy fell in love with the hostel, which had lots of art, books, friendly people, and a hippie vibe. (We stayed in the "Rasta Room" lol.)
Lizzy says: I really did fall in love with it! You know how sometimes you come upon a place where you feel instantly at home and comfortable? I met some great people there, and I spent a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying the vibe. It's a really creative place- they even do their own "world famous" radio show, which guests can contribute to if they want. Check their station out! The absolute BEST part though was that they had a yoga teacher staying there, and she offered cheap classes. I went every opportunity I could during the two days we were there, which was sadly only twice. Jessica was one of the best yoga instructors I've had so far. Alas, the hostel was a bit more intense our second night though- a huge family group arrived off of the nearby Heaphy Track, which definitely damped the vibe. Ah, well! I would have love to have stayed longer, but we were on a bit of a schedule...
Back to Kara: After spending our first night, Lizzy decided that she wanted to stay in and enjoy the hostel, so Jordan and I decided to venture out on our own. To more caves, Duh!
We walked the Fenian track to start the caves loop, which had three caves to explore. It had been raining a lot lately, and we knew the caves were wet, so we wore our watershoes. However, perhaps it was more flooded than just wet... As the path came to the first cave, there was almost no signage and the way was unclear, but, there was a cave, so we went in. It was all underwater and had a muddy bottom, but we were game for the adventure, and hey, it was just a short way, we could see the light on the other side! (Jordan says, in retrospect and when you put it like that, what the hell were we thinking!?)
Our second day in the Karamea region was actually spent in the Oparara Basin. The three of us had several goals here: to explore more caves (duh!) and two large limestone arches! We started with the caves. (Which were dry, thank goodness!)
The Oparara Basin has beautiful bush, which we got to experience on our way to find the limestone arches. The rivers here are stained brown with the tannin from fallen leaves. I called it a beer river, Jordan said tea river. I'm sticking with beer, because the foam makes it look like a dark brew with a good head! Jordan says that it is LITERALLY a tea river because it is brewed with leaves.