Kohaihai River, Karamea
About Karamea
The LivinginPeace Project is based in Karamea at the top of the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Karamea is enveloped by the Kahurangi National Park on three sides and sealed in by the Tasman Sea. It is a region of great scenic beauty and ecological significance. The primary industries in the Karamea region are tourism and dairy farming. The region is a popular holiday destination for both domestic and international travellers.
Karamea's most famous attraction is one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks” the 80-kilometre Heaphy Track, which is popular with trampers year-round and mountain bikers between May 1 and September 30. The track traverses expansive tussock plains, beneath verdant rainforest, skirts palm-fringed white-sand beaches over mountain ranges, through dense beech groves and spectacular granite outcrops. It is popular with both multi-day trampers and day walkers, who walk (or cycle in the winter season) into the Heaphy or Lewis huts and stay a night or two and then walk back to Karamea. For more detailed information, please visit: www.heaphytrack.com
The Oparara Basin is also popular with visitors to Karamea. Walking tracks through enchanted, moss-adorned rainforest lead you to the Oparara Arch, which at over 200m long and nearly 50m high and wide makes it the largest limestone arch in the Southern Hemisphere, the Moria Gate Arch, which is smaller but equally impressive, the spectacular Mirror Tarn, a lake of still water protected from the wind by dense beech forest that perfectly reflects the sky, and on to several easily accessible caves such as the Crazy Paving and Box Canyon Caves (please carry a torch).
Heaphy Track, Karamea
The Honeycomb Cave system is also a feature of the Oparara Basin and guided tours through the labyrinth of spectacular caves run twice daily, for more information, please visit: www.oparara.co.nz
Karamea is also the start (or end) of the Wangapeka Track, which is more challenging than the Heaphy Track, with higher altitudes, tougher terrain and more exposure. The Wangapeka Track crosses the rugged mountain interior of the Kahurangi National Park, where as the Heaphy crosses lower, more rounded ranges that form the barrier between mountains and sea. The huts on the Wangapeka Track do not have gas-cooking facilities, so trampers will need to carry cooking stoves and fuel.
Other attractions in the Karamea region include: Karamea Gorge, Lake Hanlon, Mt Stormy, the Karamea Estuary walkway, the Big Rimu Tree and many other short walks. Activities in Karamea include: fishing, kayaking, bird watching, surfing, mountain climbing, hunting and mountain biking.
Our Businesses:
Rongo Backpackers and Gallery - Accommodation:
So much more than a backpackers. 32 bed hostel with high repeat custom rate.
The only dedicated backpackers in Karamea. Rongo has the local community FM radio station, Karamea 107.5FM in it's grounds. We have a recognised branding and the Rongo Backpackers website gets over 1000 unique visitors per month.
www.rongobackpackers.com/
Karamea Farm Baches - Accommodation:
A seven unit motel (Bach is a New Zealand term for a temporary house like a cabin, which is what our units are) that recieves a lot of repeat customers and high reccomendations. www.karameamotels.com/
(We rebranded from Karamea Motels in December 2008)
Karamea Connections - Heaphy Track Transport
We own and run a service to transport trampers to and from the Heaphy Track or Westport with full insurance and permissions.
www.karameaconnections.co.nz
Heaphy Track Website:
We run the website http://www.heaphytrack.com/ The premier resource for information about the Heaphy Track, with track details, tips, useful links and tramper's accounts.