Karamea and area

After leaving the Nelson area, we headed over to the northwest tip of the South Island to explore the top end of the wild West Coast. From Karamea at the top, down to Greymouth. The Coast Road between Westport and Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks) has to be the most scenic coastline we've ever seen, anywhere and that's saying a lot. The road is very narrow and there aren't any places to pull over, so, not many pictures, but, it was spectacular: lush green forest, cliffs, jagged rocks and a wild sea. Along the way, we stopped at Cape Foulwind (love that name) to view the seal colony there. I know I've published a bunch of seal pictures recently, but, really, how could I resist sharing this one.

At the end of road, just north of Karamea, is the start of the Heaphy Track, a five day Great Walk that goes through Kahurangi National Park. We had no plans to do the Heaphy Track, but, there were a couple of short walks at its terminus that sounded interesting, especially the Nikau Palm Forest Walk.

A suspension bridge led into the forest.

A forest of palm trees is just as lush and green as you'd expect.

Occasionally, a glimpse through the forest showed pohutukawa trees blooming red on the hillsides.

The walk led to a scenic lookout over the first beach on the Heaphy Track.

The way back was just as pretty as the way in.

As usual, there was also lots of birdlife to enjoy. These are cormorants, known in NZ as 'shags'.