Karamea Area

End of the line for State Highway 67 is at the settlement of Karamea, set in a sheltered basin with a backdrop of the vast Kahurangi National Park. Some call it a ‘sleepy hollow’, a place to chill out and do nothing at all. But it’s also the gateway to the Heaphy Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, and also the Wangapeka and Karamea-Leslie Tracks for the more adventurous. The scenery here is simply spectacular, from the lush rainforest bristling with tall nikau palms to the largest limestone arches in the Southern Hemisphere. You could be tempted to raft an exhilarating Grade 4/5 wild river or check out a heritage cave littered with the fossilized remains of extinct birds.