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| The West Coast |
| The less populated and wilder of the South Island coastlines. It gets 5 times the rainfall of the east, resulting in amazingly lush vegetation and tropical rainforests. The towns are isolated and friendly, if not terribly interesting (except for Hokitika!). It's the rugged coastline, dense national parks, and outdoor activities that bring many tour buses and pimped-out vans to this area. |
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| This was our first experience with the hundreds of limestone caves all over NZ. You have to climb through this 100m cave tunnel to continue on the trail. In the middle there are tiny glowworms dotting the roof. It was on the Finian Track outside of Karamea. This track was closed, but we ignored the silly safety sign and had a great hike! |
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| Moonrise at Karamea - the northernmost town on the West Coast. Karamea is a funky, artsy little town. Its claim to fame is the proximity to some of the best tramps in the country in Kahurangi National Park. We didn't do any overnight hut tramps on this trip, but we'll be back. We took this shot from our campsite by the beach. We had curry chicken sans chicken for dinner and Miners beer that we picked up in Westport. |
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| Teenage seals playing in a pool sheltered from the waves. They played King of the Rock and could have easily passed for little kids from a distance. The seals were the highlight of a coastal walk we took outside of Westport - the dingy gateway to the west coast. |
| Breakfast in bed at Paparoa National Park. You can almost make out the huge limestone walls in the background. We built a fire in the dry riverbed in front of the van. The limestone cave network under the park is NZ's least explored area. |
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| I took a run in Paparoa to Cave Creek and snapped a picture with the timer. A group of people died here in '99 when a viewing platform collapsed. There were family memorials in the rocks and it was very eerie to be there alone. The area had some interesting caves and great boulder hopping. |