Travel NZ Open Spaces

Scrambling down over boulders through a chimney like hole took a lot of courage for me, but I knew the experience of the Maria Gate Arch would be worth it. It isn’t a tight squeeze, but tall people need to mind their heads. The smaller of the two limestone arches in the Oparara Cave System was unlike anything I had experienced before. The photos we had been shown didn’t do it justice.
The arch is over the Oparara River. Imagine a grand hotel entrance where a bus can drive undercover and let passengers off out of the rain, it will give you an idea of the size of the arch, with the river running through like a driveway. The edges of the arch fringed with ferns and bush.
Walking the 15 minutes along the track, we could hear birds chattering to each other, but when it began to rain while we were under the arch, the birdsong stopped and we could watch the shower, only hearing the river running over the rocks and the sound of the rain on the bush. The arch was like a giant amplifier.
David Attenborough, when he visited, said “The plants here have been around since the beginning of time, and would be found nowhere else in the world.”
The track carries on to the Mirror Tarn in a loop track, a further 1 hour and 15 minutes. We chose to go back to the carpark and check on our wee dog, Benji as the sun came out after the rain.
We drove to the Mirror Tarn carpark (all of two minutes) and walked the ten minutes each way to the Mirror Tarn. The water is still and it is hard to distinguish the edge of the water between the green ferns around the lake and their reflection in it.
The 14km road into the Oparara Limestone Arches is an adventure in itself. Water damaged, with potholes, gouges, washouts and corrugation through gorgeous native West Coast Bush. It didn’t prepare us for the modern clean toilets, picture boards, timelines and picnic table areas, all undercover. This is a remote part of the West Coast and isn’t on the traditional tourist routes. Signs advise campervans and large vehicles not to use the road which we would endorse. Most of the road is one way.
Further on up the road is the Honeycomb Hill Caves and Arch. These are available as a guided walk (or kayak) only, because there are bones and fossilised remains of now extinct birds.
The decision to only provide access with a Local Maori Guide is a very wise one. Next time, we will take the guided tour which can be booked and leaves from the Karamea Visitors Centre.