Ooh, it was chilly this morning. We waited for the sun to hit the van before getting out of bed, and then it warmed up nicely.

We had showers before leaving the Gentle Annie Campground. We drove up past Karamea and went as far as we could. At the end was a DOC camp and the start (or finish) of the Heaphy Track. We took a short walk across the swing bridge and along part of the Heaphy Track, through beautiful nīkau palms.

Barry lost his hat on the swing bridge. It blew off and into the water far below. Mike thought it was absolutely hilarious and kept heckling him about it. But karma’s got him: he’s now lost his own hat.

Afterwards, we headed to the Oparara Arches. They’re down a narrow, windy, very rutted dirt road. It was only 14 km, but it took us almost an hour! On the way, a 4WD had slipped off the road and broken its CV joint. We stopped to see if we could help, but we had limited tools, so we continued on to the arches.

The first arch was a 15-minute walk along a bush track, the path winding through dense greenery. I had to climb down through a cave to the most magnificent arch with a river running through it. There was a sandy beach on the other side of the river, but i didn’t feel like swimming to get to it.

Then we backtracked, and took another walk. This walk followed the river which looked like a strong cup of tea. But it was super clear and it looked unreal. At the end of the walk was a massive limestone arch, which towered precariously over us. It didn’t look safe.

There was a scramble down to the bottom of the arch, but I didn’t want to tackle it and chance putting my back out again.

We rattled our way back along the rough dirt road, and  the tow truck had only just arrived to retrieve the unlucky 4WD. 

After that, we had to backtrack through Karamea and Westport. I hadn’t noticed how windy the road was on the way up, but on the way back it felt long and tiring.

Jenny and Barry were staying at a freedom camping spot at the Fox River, so we asked them to save us a place as we wouldn’t be arriving until after 7pm.

While they were holding our spot, a couple of foreigners pulled in and parked very close beside them. That is typical of foreigners, they don’t have the sense of personal space that we do. It’s normal in Europe to camp like that. Anyway, she asked them to move over a bit so there was room for us, and they left. So they placed their chairs there to mark the spot.

Thankfully, by the time we arrived, our space was still there! It was a beautiful spot, right across the road from the beach and on the banks of the fox river. We strolled along the beach to watch the sun set, the sky turning bright red as the sun set over the ocean. It was gorgeous!

It was a really busy free camp, people crammed in all over the place. There was the usual cacophony of the swoosh of sliding doors followed by the slam of van doors echoing all over the carpark, but it died down about 10pm, and I was able to sleep.