An isolated, beautiful spot on the West Coast, Karamea has its own special microclimate.  It’s located on the western edge of the Kahurangi National Park, near the beginning (or end) of the Heaphy Track (one of the great walks of New Zealand). A short walk up the nearby Oparara river takes you to a large limestone arch.  The river is brown due to a high concentration of natural organic compounds in the water (tannins etc).  Here are some pictures.

First a bush robin that came to see what I was up to:

Then a few of the river on the way up:

Getting closer to the Oparara Arch now:

and finally, the arch itself ( really hard to photograph well!)

There are lots of others too!