Karamea

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The rain had cleared up overnight & after breakfast we headed up the coast to Karamea. On route another weka decided to jump out in front of the car, but with hard braking we managed to avoid it. Past Karamea we started walking the Heaphy Track along the coast through palm trees & tree ferns until Scotts Beach where the waves tumbled onto the deserted white sand. Deciding it would be a good spot for lunch we sat down & three other groups of serious trampers then turned up. Determined to show Randi a bellbird on the way back we came across a likely suspect but it was chirping in a most unbell like way. We later identified it as a female bellbird giving a distress call probably as we we standing underneath it & some fantails were trying to steal its food.
We drove down the narrow gravel track to the Oparara Arches, huge stone arches that had been carved out by the river running beneath them.
The next walk was to Moria Gate, probably named after the Lord of the Rings as it did look like the entrance to a dwarf kingdom filled with caves.
The weather had held out all day & we headed back to The Old Slaughterhouse where the smell of freshly baked bread was enticing us up the hill.

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