Bex's Geography 108 Caldervale, South Island, New Zealand
By rchdlyn on 13-Apr-07. Waypoint GC124N2

Rented a car to be able to reach this beautiful place, since our motorhome could not go here. Thanks for the earth cache at this great place!1. See photo4. A young weka followed our kids for a few hundred meters along the path! Even over stairs but stopped at a bridge. No, we did not feed it, of course not!

A day exploring the wonders of limestone country. We started with a guided tour of the Honeycomb Caves, with moa bones, carnivorous snail shells and glowworms. Also visited the Box Canyon Cave which also has gloworms, is some of its side passages. We wrapped up the day seeing the Moria Gate and Oparara Arches.Answers sent to CO. Thanks for this well placed geocache!

What a great day. Nice hike, nice caches and stunning viewsThanks!Thanks!!Greetings from the Netherlands Thanks!Bedankt Groeten Dunaghiri Dank u voor de Cache Danke fr die Dose - Thanks for the Cache - Merci pour la Cache - Dziki za kesza - Grazie per questo Cache - Takk for at Cache - Obrigado por isso Cache - Gracias por el Cache - Dky za ke - Aciu u ta talpykla - Paldies par o Cache - Aith selle eest Cache - Kiitos ktkst - Tack fr att Cache - Tak for denne Cache - Hvala za cache - nbellek iin tesekkrler - Ksznjk, hogy a cache - Bedankt voor de cache - Graas para o cache - Dankon pro la kasmemoron - V mulumim pentru cache - Ksznm a gyorsttrat - - Takk fyrir skyndiminni - - - - Deo gratias pro cache - - Salamat sa cache - Kesh uchun rahmat - Cm n cc b nh cache - cache - - - Danki vir die Kas - Ng mihi mo te keteroki - Pokupatsani posungira - - - - Takk fyrir skyndiminni - Ai u talpyklos - Muchu Danki pe cache akka r fyrir sk whakawhetai koe mo te keteroki

#3,947: Bexing Smiley!I came to this amazing place with the GeoMissus before starting the Heaphy. Excellent weather, and the place really didn't disappoint.My heart dropped when I rounded the corner to see the arch. So impressive!Answers emailed to the CO.

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I now live full-time in our caravan & travel the country visiting places we want to visit … we are currently parked up at the DoC Campsite at Kohaihai … we had decided that we needed to visit the various ‘sights & attractions’ at Oparara … also decided that as we’ve driven in 16kms on a narrow, gravel road, then we’d better do some caches while here … we like doing Earthcaches … although some of the info wasn’t easily found but we managed to rely on our knowledge & Mrs. Google (typical woman; knows everything) … answers have been sent to the Cachce Owner … what an absolutely amazing place, loved it! … pleased to add another 'smiley face' to the tally … TFTC ... TN except photos:LN except footprints, but with all the rain they wouldn’t have lasted long:no L to S ... #4,080 for us.

Beautiful walk to the arch on this beautiful day. Thoroughly enjoyed exploring and finding the answer. TFTC.

Heading on a wee family summers holiday.
Reefton done, now time for a few nights in Carters Beach.
Today's adventure was to head up to the Oparara basin and check out the arches and walks. It has been on our 'list of things to do' for too long.
What a fantastic spot. What a fantastic track to the arch, a darn sight better than the road in! A spectacular spot. Clambered down and in & out the other side. Great fun. Thanks. Visited by a SI Robin whilst having our lunch in the quieter overflow carpark. Thanks.

Amazing!!!Greetings from the Czech Republic and Thanks For This Cache. Answers sentI sent
Díky za keš.
16:08
Moje 4688

Hopefully I managed to solve the cloze activity! My phone went flat at the carpark after the walk when I was trying to check the information.

Saw a whio on the track near the bridge to the tarn.

Major upgrade in place to this track.

Headed up to Oparara basin to do the guided walk thru the Honeycomb hill caves which was very enjoyable. They have started putting in a new track to the Oparara Arch. Some very interesting geological features in this area.
No sightings of blue ducks the guide said due to a storm and the sand that washed down the rivers the ducks have gone elsewhere for there food and there are only occasional sightings.

Answers sent
What an incredible place! Loved wandering through and had the place to myself as it was first thing in the morning.
Fun fact: Did you know that the Oparara arch is longer than 2.5 Airbus A380s, measured wing to wing?

Answers sent to CO.
Decided that our campervan was on the smaller side, and early morning so very little traffic, so we travelled in to the Oparara Arches. Fantastic look around, and we will be back. DoC are doing a lot of work in here and will be great when they have finished. The tracks are better than the road! Some great photo's to take away. TFTEC

One of the main reasons for our trip was to visit this area and do the Honeycomb caves guided tour and a few other tracks around. Have to say it is quite an adventure to even get here. The 16km unpaved road which winds its way through the forest is an adventure in itself, with a few areas where you think the forest may consume you. We did the Honeycomb cave tour first which took a couple of hours including an hour and 1km (of the 15kms) of venturing around the cave. There were a number of Moa skeletons, glow worms and lots of cave features to see - well worth the trip if you have time.

After lunch at the main carpark we then venture up the track to the Oparara Arch, another great forest walk. The walk along the forest river was spectacular with its small side streams and waterfalls. It had been raining in the morning so lots of water around to make them flow quite quickly down the sides of the valley.

I didn't realise we had made it to the arch until I looked up to see where the dripping water was coming from - boy what a sight. We have been to several natural bridges before including one of the biggest in Virginia, but have to say this one is certainly up there. Looking down the cave from the viewing area above really gave it a sense of huge proportions and definitely worth the visit.

Before the trip I had made a list of the caches in areas we planned to visit along the way. I thought I had puts all of the caches in this area on it as well but found that I had missed them off when we arrived at the carpark. I remember that there was a couple of earthcaches here but as there is not any mobile coverage we didn't have any info for them. We decided to record everything including things like counting the number of stairs etc to have hopefully what would be required to log them. In the end we had more than what we needed for both caches and have sent the CO's the requested info.

Thanks for this cache in a beautiful and very interesting area.

TFTC great place, so much noise with bird songs we saw Robin's basically landing at our feet, Tuis everywhere and the odd bellbird and weka. Love the tannin colored water especially with the sunlight hitting it

Completed while exploring the beautiful West Coast over te Rā o Waitangi weekend. Have emailed the answers to Question 2 and 3 to the CO. In answer to Q4 did you know the South Island Robin is a protected endemic species that is only found in NZ?

Found on a trip during December.
We were entertained by a cheeky wee robin along the beautiful track.
We met an adolescent weka with behavioural issues during lunch. After failing to steal Lifestylea's sandwich from his mouth then proceeded
to peck him drawing blood.

A great spot and perfect idea for an earthcache. Easy walk here on a brilliant day. The arch is quite imposing, and with all the vegetation on and around it, and the stalactites hanging from the ceiling you get the impression the front could collapse at any moment. One day it probably will, but not today. We walked up as far as we could, but the extra elevation was for trapline maintainers only. Great spot, enjoyed it very much.

This is day 2 of a long weekend in the northern West Coast, and finally I get to find some caches! While yesterday was a quick dash from Brightwater to our digs at Little Wanganui (and with appointment times to be met, not a single cache), today was quite a bit more flexible.
We had loose plans of the Oparara arches/caves followed by the Fenian walk and, if time permits or plans change, a quick walk into the start of Heaphy for a view and a cache. The plans did change - so drop the Fenian bit, add a couple of local caches not attempted on previous visits, and that was pretty close to it. Still made our dinner appointment at the Last Resort in time. Thanks all COs.

Located with Ricardinho
Refer to his log
TFTC

Found while out caching with Kiwimykl, refer to his log for details.

TFTC rchdlyn

Found with NZDi. We are staying at Carters Beach Holiday Camp as a base for a few days geocaching on the Wet Coast. This is our third day on the Coast and today we are heading up to the Oparara Basin to do some caching, picking up a few roadside caches along the way. The weather left a lot to be desired, so there are some green gaps along the route where the weather made us bypass the pickings available.

This is our eighth cache of the day and the first of two earthcaches. The information has been sent to the CO and we are logging the cache before permission is received in order to maintain cache continuity. On the way both to and from the arch we were held up by people experiencing the inquisitiveness of the native Black Robin. These birds will alight somewhere near the path and tease passers-by who think they are able to get close enough to touch, although I recall one occasion when walking around Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lake National Park, we stopped to check one out and it alighted on my son's sneaker.

Although this was the biggest arch we saw today, I think the Moria Arch was more aesthetically pleasing.

Thank for bringing us here and TFTEC rchdlyn

Wow! An absolutely stunning place.

Chatted to the DoC ranger in the caves as he was counting spider egg sacs! I didn't think I was interested in spiders, but was intrigued that we have an NZ native cave dwelling spider.
Also saw a giant cave weta.

I was surprised by the lack of fantails on the bush walks, and the number of robins.

And every cheeky weka that was annoyed at not being fed, so pecked my knee hard enough to break the skin - then stole a bite of my sandwich while I was distracted

Impressive to stand under a 35 million year old limestone arche!
The caves in the area are also absolutely amazing. We made a lot of walks in the area looking for the Ōpārara giant land snail (Powelliphanta annectens), it has only been found in areas around 700 m from the Ōpārara River. I thought I have seen it before at the Takaka hill walkway, but maybe I’m wrong and it was another species. We didn’t spot any along the walks we did here though.
And in case you didn't notice - above was answer for question 4. I like the idea to include a question that has to be answered in the log, so I scrolled through some other logs to learn other "interesting facts" surprisingly a lot of people haven't include any.
Anyway, we loved coming here and this arch is a must-do if you are in the area. Another must-do is the Fenian caves / tunnel - super cool!
Logging with permission from rchdlyn after sending the other answers through, thanks for getting back.

A great reason to visit this area and a good earthcache to accompany the visit, nice one. Have sent the anbswers to the CO and will add a pic, or two (more) later. Awesome spot, well worth the F P awarded by me.

Saturday was to be the day we went to the Oparara Arches and that walkway and area did not disappoint. We enjoyed the couple of shorter loop walks and all the places of interest and a leisurely drive back to pick up some straggler caches on return to Westport.
With a free weekend at our disposal we decided to head over to the upper West Coast to have a crack at a few of the easier walking tracks before we move North later in the year. In the end I put in for the Friday off as well and headed across the Buller Gorge etc early on Friday morning. We had almost 3 full days over this way and whilst we didn't find loads of caches, we saw plenty if interesting things and had some awesome weather to boot.
Friday was travel and then a trip out and back across Cape Foulwind walkway. We followed that up by a jaunt up to the Tauranga Bay high point before checking into digs and a meal out. Saturrday we headed to the caves at Oparara arches and nearby highlights and then a slow drive back through the Gorge on Sunday after heading up to Dennsiton Plateau.

Had an amazing day in the Kahurangi National Park, went on a guided tour of the Honeycomb Caves and then walked to see the Oparara Arch as well as the Moria Gate Arch...both were incredible and it was well worth going to see them both.
I have sent my answers to the CO.
Whilst walking to the arch we saw a variety of native trees:- Red Beech, Silver Beech, Rimu, Totara & Kahiktea; we also saw several Weka birds, New Zealand Robins and understand that Kiwi birds can be seen here after dusk. We saw a crayfish in the Honeycomb caves and a couple of hares whilst driving away from the National Park.

Found with MrsC on our NZ travels from the UK. Great location, loved the geology and the wildlife. Spotted The rare Whio (Blue Duck), lots of South Island Robins and Tomtits. Love the Tree Ferns, ferns, mosses, lichens and Matai trees

Found with mr c on our travels from the UK thank you

We had a great visit here about 10 days ago. Stunning natural features! Answers sent. TFTC and an FP for bringing us here.

Really lovely place to visit sent all the answers. While having lunch we had a lovely visit from some wekas, it was fun.

We were visiting this area at the end of last year and completely omitted to log this wonderful cache. The whole area around here is a true wonder of nature, but it’s a slightly scary driving using a two wheel drive hire car! Answers sent to CO.

A lovely walk, and so much to see and learn. Meet a few people on the track and everyone seemed to be taking so many photos. No Blue Ducks lining up for pictures though.

The icon for the earthcache is at the start of the Oparara Arches track. That's an essential waypoint, but I suggest it would be better helpful to give the coordinates of the arch and to add waypoints for the other signs where you find the information needed. .

- Sign with some information needed are in the Oparara Arches carpark kiosk at about S41 09.088 E172 11.439

- Then more answers on a sign on the track at about S41 08.989 E172 11.407

- And then different L, W, H answers on the sign at the arch at about S41 08.798 E172 11.248.

Looking up as we approach, astonished to see it's actually two arches? So huge it's hard to take it all in. An amazing place to see and an interesting walk in - I expect this will be the next track to be upgraded? Glad the 1080 drop is working already - we saw two weka in different places along the track with dead rats, hooray for them!

Answers sent... two versions of stats... no answer so suppose it's okay.

I walking this track and enjoyed collecting the information for this earthcache unfortunately I didn't spot any Blue Ducks .Thanks for this EarthCache rchdlyn

On a west coast road trip with the kids and niece hkbrom94 (over from England ) showing her the best of what nz has to offer .
After dropping our gear off at our digs for the night we headed out
The main target for the day as I haven't been here before....well worth the drive in what an amazing place had it all to our selves .
Well deserving of a fav

Our aim today was to visit the arch. As we had a look which cache where in this area it was a coincidence that we found this EC because on the it direct under a Tradi. But it was very nice. Thanks for the cache!

Today we had our second day in Karamea and again made a trip in and around the city, with special emphasis on the Oparara basin. On this trip we searched, found and logged many caches, too. The weather was good, sunny, very warm, only a bit cloudy, and only sometimes there was some wind.
Almost no muggels observed us as they had better things to do than observing two geocachers.

Thanks to rchdlyn for showing us this location and for the fun we had at Bex's Geography 108. The answers are on the way, almost

For the perfect Earthcache we give a FP!.

Greetings from Germany and hope to see you soon in the forest.

TFTC says H_M_A @ 19. Oktober 2018 @ 10:22 Uhr @ [#12044](https://coord.info/GC124N2)

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are on another 4 day exploration of the Upper West Coast.
Its Sunday and we are traveling back to Karamea to explore Oparara Arches. So lets go!!
We have just finished walking to Sunshine flat and back and the day is getting on. Checked out the info signs at the carpark then its time to check out this one. Get to the cords posted and no sign so we start down the track and find this sign to capture the required data. Its getting late so The Seagnoid asks - "Do we do the arches now or after Box Canyon?". Well we are this far lets keep going - and I am so glad I did. Loved this walk through the forest to the Arch and still enough light to see everything. It was dark by the time we got out of box Canyon and would not have been able to experience this awesome place. Loved it. Thanks for the earth cache. Fav from me. Cheers

Having walked the Charming Creek railway and Oparara Valley, Taybeedragon and I are on day three of our four-day trip to the northern West Coast. Today, the Oparara Arches.

Actually, we were going to skip the visit tot he arch as we really wanted to get to Box Canyon cave and night was falling. But as we cannot skip an earthcache, here we are anyway. By the time we exited Box Canyon (we were in there quite a while) it was full dark.

Quite an impressive arch! Glad we took the time and came out here anyway. Passed a number of people on the way here, but there was no one at the arch when we got there - its getting late in the day. Alas we had no photos on our GPS, so although we complied with the written instructions about where to take the photo, the photo was taken at a different location.

Logged as a write note, will change to a found when I hear from the CO.
Earthcache are always at great locations - as always, this earns a favourite.

I am a pedant, so as a result I am unsure what task 4 is asking for. Perhaps the word "in" does not belong there. On that assumption:
In the Oparara valley I came across three black fantails and and about 20 pied fantails. That is a ratio of 1:7. Black fantails are suposed to be rare, about 3% of the population, or about 1:30. Sounds like they are quite plentiful in the Oparara!

Answers etc forwarded to CO. Had a lovely walk into the arch which was much bigger than I expected.

A really awesome day in and around Karamea today. Perfect weather for walking and caching.

Thanks to all the CO's for placing and maintaining these caches. Cheers.

A friend of mine took me to this place and showed me some cave wetas. Thank you for the cache!

We were there last week. We saw SIX blue ducks in the creek, I have never seen that many before! Great fun for the kids. I have emailed answers and photo of myself. Thanks for the earth cache.

It was off to see the Oparara Arches plus a few other sights nearby this morning before it got too hot for hiking about.

What an amazing place. Sent the info today. A fave from me.

Cheers for the cache.

Confirmation given. What an awesome place, so glad we came. Love the crazy floor in the cave.

Tftc. Email sent through with answers 2/1/18. A lovely place but very busy at this time of year.

#15066. We really enjoyed out visit to the arch, and the other attractions in the Oparara Basin. Troodles sent answers on behalf of us both. TFTC.

Found with StreetWalker on our week long post Christmas trip to Reefton and the West Coast. Day 5: Karamea and Oparara area.
This was on the "must see" list and was amazed at how big the arch is, and wondered how it fared in the Murchison quake. Also, didn't like to linger too long underneath it - just in case as there are some big rocks in the stream that had to have come from somewhere. I liked the contrast between the white rocks and the brown water (which gets its colouring from tannin released by decomposing plant material).
Answers sent. Thanks for bringing me to this special place and TFTC.

On our way from Westport to Karamea, and vv, we also visited this beautiful site. Including the almost endless gravel road...
We walked to both arches and had a wonderfull time. On our way to this arch indeed we think we saw two blue ducks at the waterfront. Also we heard a lot of birds... but couldn't recognice all of them. The answers are on there way.....
#1804 log:11.30 Thanx!

CZECH
slyšeli jsme zpívat nějaké ptáčky, ale podle zvuku pořád nepoznám, žádného jsme neviděli, ani jiné zvíře
oblouk je úchvatný, u nás v ČR nic tak velkého není

Found whilst on a wonderful 3 week tour of this beautiful country. Many thanks to the COs for placing caches in great spots to visit and make our holiday even more special.

Während unseres Neuseelandurlaubes besuchten abenteuerjuli und ich auch diesen Steinbogen. Der gesamte Trip war eines der Erlebnisse, die mir in Erinnerung bleiben. Die Abgelegenheit, die seltsame Straße, die irgendwann nur noch eine Schotterpiste war, das extrem braune Wasser, und ich glaube, wir sahen auch eine oder zwei blaue Enten fliegen. Und dann der Steinbogen, wow, der ist wirklich beeindruckend. Vielen Dank für den Earthcache

During our vacation in New Zealand, abenteuerjuli and me visited this natural arch. The whole trip was an adventure to remember. It is very remote, the road was strange and only gravel, the water was very very brown, and I think we saw one or two blue ducks flying over the water. And, well, the arch is truly spectacular.
Thank you for the earthcache

Belated log: Found it together with zer0seven, but did not yet log it online.
The story about us finding this cache can be found in the log of zer0seven.

Thanks!

It was quiet a detour to reach the Oparara Basin but well worth the visit. We were stunned by the beautiful arches and the forest and river scenery. Also it was a good chance to find some "lonely" caches which are found rarely.

Great to have a Earthcache here at the most impressive arch!

Thx

At World’s End – New Zealand – One of our dream become true.

Our plan was to stay 4 weeks in New Zealand. But this wasn’t this easy to manage at work. So we moved spontanic the plan from march to november. We informed us before about point of interessts. The list was this long so we decided to go by campervan from the north to the south to have the most mobility. We arrived after way to much hours in Auckland and started there our round trip. At first we enjoyed the area in auckland and the north. In Waitomo we were able to see and enjoy glohworms in one of the famous caves. But this area had a lot of nice hiking trails were we could discovered the Piripiri Caves, Natural Bridge and the Marokopa Falls. This was already impressive to see and still the beginning of our adventure for life. The trip went on over Okere Falls Scenic Reserve direction Rotorua. In this area we enjoyed each hour, because each corner was different. We visited the Haumurana Springs – what amazing water -, Blue Lake and Green Lake and relaxed in Kerosene Creek. We liked all the water and in our travel guide we found a hike cloth to the Huka Falls, which ofcourse we did as well. All this flowers were bloom. One oft the Highlights was Wai-O-Tapu. The weather was perfect and all this colors awesome and the geysir a nice shower. By Campercan the to tour went on direction Tongariro Alpine with a short stop at Orakei Korako and the Tongariro River Loop Track. Lu like nice hiking tours and what could be the best for her birthday? Of course the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We started early in the morning and walked approximately 9 hours over gras, stones, snow and colorful water. Now we had to leave the Heart of North New Zealand and went over Taranaki Falls to the East Coast with the goal Napier. The weather was cloudy and often raining but a small sightseeing was a must have. The last stop on the North Irland was Wellington. But it was only raining and some streets were already flooded. That’s why we change spontanic our plan and only did the First Cache of New Zealand and went by ship over the Marlboro Sound to Picton. We went over Farewell Spit to the lonely Wharariki Beach with sea lions. On the way back to the big streets we stopped at Waikoropupu Spring and Janie Sesson Shipwreck and drove untypical to Karamea. In Germany we do not have this much and public caves and that’s way we enjoyed this area! Cloth to the West Coast we took a look at the Pancake Rocks. The weather was just raining and so we could not see the Franz Josef and Fox Glacier, but we still visited them. We leaved the bad weather in the hills and enjoyed the Sun at Ship Creek, Thunder Creek, Fantail Falls and the Blue Pools. Wow they were relly blue and this clean and deep. I never saw something similar before. About Wanaka we read a lot in our travel guide and looked forward to it. There arrived we visited the Puzzling World and walked around the sea. Queenstown the next town we drove just through because at this time there was a marathon and it was really campervan unfriendly. So we used the time and drove to Milford Sound and enjoyed the hills surround us on the water. I never felt this small. After we are landed again on land the trip goes on to the Chasm and Clifden Caves and the Clifden Suspension Bridge. Wow what an adventure. At the end we visited a few cities like Bluff, Duneding, Moeraki Boulders and Christchurch were our Trip sadly ends.

At all this places we looked for nice and unique caches which shows us places which we never would had seen without. We enjoyed the nature and wildlife each day and it was really an adventure for life. At the end we drove approximately 5000 kilometeres and felt this relaxed.
Thanks to all owners for placing this caches and this much informations which we got about the particular areas. This was an adventure for life for us. Thanks for this beauty time.

Greetings from Germany – Luco235

This had long been on the to do list – but we had not been back to Karamea until last night. The forecasts had been watched and were in agreement that today would be fine – which it was. Wet in places underfoot but otherwise a great walk to the arch, enjoying the river views on the way. Sadly, although we saw a number of weka today we didn’t see any ducks. Our other weka memory is to sadly have to let a few visitors to NZ know that they had not seen a kiwi but a weka instead.
CO emailed with answers and photos to follow when we are home.
Thanks for the earthcache in such a lovely spot. A favourite.

Spending the weekend exploring the area unfortunately a weekend is not long enough, I ran out of time to visit the Moria Arch and Fenian tracks so I will be back. I'd heard about the Oparara Arch but was still amazed at its beauty. Awesome signboards with lots of interesting information. Unfortunately I didn't see a blue duck today but saw one in the Flora Valley a few months ago. That morning I'd scalded my hand and was tramping back to the car, my hand was throbbing with pain so was cooling it in the river, I felt honoured to see such a lovely bird swim so close past me. Thank you for bringing me to this stunning area

#4915

So glad we came out here. Amazing arch! Luckily not many people around.

Messaged cache owners with all the required info but haven't heard back for over a month so logging anyway. Lots of people up here today and very cold!! The arch surpassed our expectations! TFTEC!

Ninalila and I have some time to travel on the West Coast and we choose to go to Karamea and visit the nice places around here.
The landscapes are just stunning and not a lot of tourists
We took our time to take a lot of really nice pictures on the differents walks.

We had the chance to see some Wekas, Robins bird but not the blue duck maybe an other time, an other place

Thank you about this earthcache and the discovery

2h driving + 8km of gravel road to come here but it worth it !
Such a beautiful and wild place !
These limestone sculptures are so huge ! fefe.adrien and I spent one day to explore the Moria Gate, the Oparara Arch and the rain forest around.
Information boards + this earhcache were very interesting to learn more about these formations.

+1 favorite point to say thank you for the discovery

TFTEC

West coast trip, day 2.

It is wonderful to return here with the children 5 years older, fitter & wiser.
Today's geography lessons included - Stalagmites 'might' reach great heights. Stalagtites hold on 'tight' for fear of falling.

Thanks for adding to our family adventure Rchdlyn!

I spent an enjoyable four weeks in New Zealand. I saw a lot of beautiful natural sites. On the way back from south to north, I visit this place. Thanks for the cache, greetings from Prague.

We spent 4 incredibly wonderful weeks in New Zealand for vacation and
had a lot of fun to discover all the marvels of this country.
Day 22 - it was a long drive from Motueka via Westport over the hills to Karamea.
It turned out we had to endure another 14 adventurous kilometers on a rough gravel road
with unending curves and steep climbs to get to the Oparara Basin.
But once there we were impressed by The Oparara Arch with the brown colored Oparara River below,
one of the biggest arches we've ever seen!
Besides we still found time for geocaching and picked up quite a few caches on our way.
This was one of them!

TFTC,
Stadibast

Found with Skyryser some time ago. TFTC The-Shredder

First The-Shredder and me weren't sure if we should take this long ride up here, but finally we did it. and it's totally worth it. So many nice animals and nature here.
We did many of the walks near Oparara and of course the caches and earth caches.
Thanks to this one here, we learned a lot about the area.
TFTC Skyryser

Had a perfect time here in the parc.
Thank you for the earthcache.
Will send the answers asap. At least when I am back in Germany.

I was fortunate enough to be able to squeeze an 11 day holiday out of two leave days!! I headed out west to find some caches, see some sights, and relax before the madness of the semester hits. The weather was unbelievably good, only a bit of a storm over Arthur's Pass on the first day, otherwise hot and sunny. I found a great variety of caches, drive by's, walks, hikes, even a power trail. Thank you to all the CO's for their great hides!!!
Amazing place!! I was there early enough to beat the crowds and enjoy a bit of piece and quiet TFTC!!

I am logging this one so I remember it and will fill up with info as soon as I can get my photos on screen. Thanks for bringing us to this really great place. I have never seen arches like this before. Thank you for this earth cache. We will be in touch again soon.

We have been really enjoying walking all the tracks from the information centre and now this is our last for the day. Aren't the arches amazing!!!! Such a fabulous place. Answers have been sent. Please say hi to Bex for me. I trust she is currently enjoying a well-earned break. Thanks for the Earthcache .

I had no idea I would enjoy exploring this area so much. We are having a wonderful time, the weather is perfect, the scenery spectacular and the caching has been excellent. Thanks for your earth cache. Been here before, but seems even better this time around.

We enjoyed our walks to Oparara arch and the Moria Gate/Mirror Tarn loop. I will post my photos and send the CO answers when I get some WiFi signal. Thanks for the smiley!

Day #3 of our New Zealand trip - an entirely too short holiday for this amazingly beautiful country! We like to think of it as an "appetizer" or scouting trip, and hope for a much longer return visit that will be the "main course".

We selected the Oparara Basin as one of our "must do" locations after seeing it featured in YouTube videos while planning our trip. It certainly did not disappoint, despite the intermittent downpours (that make this place so beautiful of course). We made sure to take full advantage of all the features here including Box Cave, Crazy Paving Cave, Mirror Tarn, the Oparara Arch (think we got to see a blue duck!), the Moria Gate Arch, and also hiked a bit of the Fenian Track (not a soul out there with us). The NZ rainforest is exquisite and will be calling our hearts back for years to come. Thanks for a great Earthcache!

Logged with permission, We had a great day out on the coast in the rain loved the arch so much we decided to leave the others for our next visit. great walk in with a paradise duck nesting in a large tree just out of the carpark TFTC

I forgot to write the Logg . Logg written on 28 1.2016 .
found together with tinflaida .

Thanks from Switzerland

We visited the Oparara Bassin on our 6-week-holiday in New Zealand. We enjoyed the beatiful landscape and the arches and the holes. Thanks for leading us to this place

We saw a very large eel swimming in the river as we walked up to the arch. it must have been at least 1-1.5 m long.

We completed the tasks during our day trip into Oparara Basin, took lots of photos and met some Wekas and some Robins Thanks for this one [^]

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[size=1][font=Impact]Cache.Mike[font=arial][/size]

Hi,
I'm a young geocacher from Switzerland and found this cache during our 6 weeks in New Zealand
Please read our story for this cache in Cache.Mike's log. He also answered any needed logging requirements
Thanks for those caches! [^]

[size=1][font=Impact] .... [orange]JoshThePirate[/orange][/size][font=arial]

Sorry for delayed log of your cache. I was long time on the way and without good conection to the internet. Thanks for nice cache on good spot.

I kindly got permission to log this ec. Thx

We had great weather and a wonderful day.
We didn't spot the blue duck but we did enjoy
the walks and the caves very much.
Thanks CO

A wonderful place. We enjoyed it very much. We found the information and mailed it to the CO.
In The Netherlands (where we're from) we don't have this sort of geological features.
CO thank you, for this cache.

12969… Answers have been emailed but we haven’t received a reply either.

Awesome location, spotted a duck but it was too far away for us to identify whether it was a blue duck or not. Many thanks for showing us this amazing place.

Have e mailed answers to owners but haven't received a reply so will log it before I forget. It was a lovely walk. We've been here three times now but this is the first time there have been caches there. We were lucky enough to see a blue duck right near the beginning of the track and a pair of them at the Moria arch. They must be easier to spot in winter because we spotted them at Moria last winter as well. The West Coast is our favourite place in the world. TFTC

Logged with permission. An amazing place to visit but alas no blue ducks today. Check out the other arch too, well worth the short walk.TFTC!
This log posted with CacheSense for Android!

A very interesting area to visit, especially the arches, so we have made it a favourite. We found the necessary information without much trouble, but had to guess how to take the photo as we hadn’t seen the sample, but managed to get it right. We met a very friendly weka on the track, a much darker, almost black, colour compared with the brown ones we have seen in other parts of the West Coast. TFTC

Thanks for the walk up to the arch to do this cache. We had our headlamps on cos I thought we would be able to have a look in the cave but we obeyed the sign saying your not aloud. Some tourist saw them on the way out and asked if they needed torches. (LOL) The read of the information boards below are quite good. I was surprised to learn that 'Zealandia' was slowly sinking into the sea 83million years ago and started to reemerge 20million years ago due to tectonic place collisions. I found this picture (included) and if your interested you can find out more information from wiki.
3/8 caches around Oparara Basin today. Thanks for the cache

Logged with permission.
This is an area we keep returning to every year or two and this year for the first time we found a Powelliphanta snail, albeit a dead one which was left exposed on a small slip on the Valley Track. In previous years we have seen Whio playing in the streams but none this time. There is also a wide array of fungus to be found at various times in the basin.
In an effort to encourage more visitors to this wonderland we have now placed some caches of our own as well.
We didn't need an excuse to return here but this earth cache was certainly an added incentive. TFTC.

Logged with permission. This area is my absolute NZ favourite and well known to me. While caching in Karamea, together with Holymu, we placed another 30 as an incentive for other cachers to visit and share the magic, both above and underground. From Westport up another 14 were added to keep the smilies coming.
This is a great cache and was just the incentive needed to fire up the cache mobile. TFTC

What an amazing place! This is one of the most fascinating places I have been to in NZ - the arches, the rainforest, the whole scenery is just magic!

TFTC

Fund it during my kiwi traveling TFTC

This entry was edited by Zivaa.CZ on Friday, 15 February 2013 at 12:00:36 UTC.

Lovely day at the basin with the Wekas, Robins and a sighting of the. Blue duck on the wing. The arch is magnificent and the caves great fun. Thanks.

This is really in some mystic country! Last time I was here was about 20 years ago; DOC have done a lot in that time to really make this place an experience. Mrs K and I will be staying in the Karamea area another day to do some more exploring.
I wonder just how many visitors to this spectacular location realise that other, similar Karst topography is to be seen in the Waitomo, Takaka Hill, Cave Stream/Broken Hill areas to mention just some. Punakaiki is probably the best known area in the South Island

Thanks for letting me log it, this is such a beautiful area and I loved it there very much. I'll be back here again that's for sure! I went and explored all the caves and the mirror lakes. Great how it has LOTR names, very clever. And I saw my first Weta in the wild down in the Box Cave. This is a great cave to explore in, finding all the different little cracks that you can squeeze into. Once again, thanks.

What an awesome place. Thanks for giving us an excuse to come here. We also visited the Crazy paving cave and, the highlight for the kids, the Box cave. The kids had a heap of fun climbing up through some of the narrower parts at the end of the Box cave and there were some glow worms.

This entry was edited by Rattlingdags on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 at 08:53:06 UTC.

(apologies for the very late log)

Last of the day before the Rugby World Cup Final back in Karamea. Awesome amble through ancient forest before coming to what has to be one of the best kept secrets in New Zealand. The chasm is awesome, and I only hope seismic activity doesn't destroy it before more people get an opportunity to view it. Cache or no cache, this is worth the walk.

Logged with permission. I used to come up here quite often when I lived in the area and still try to get up here whenever I am back as it is such a beautiful location. The place has certainly changed considerably over the years both on the drive up and at the facilities in the carpark. I can remember driving up here back when it was being logged and the area looked terrible. We stopped for lunch at the visitors centre and while we were distracted by a couple of wekas fighting, a mandarin disappeared off the table and then all the wekas vanished. It makes you wonder if it was a staged fight. After lunch we carried on up to the Crazy Paving and Box Canyon caves which are also well worth the visit to see the cave wetas and spiders. It was too early in the day to have any real hope of spotting a Blue Duck but I have been lucky enough over the years to have seen both them and a Powelliphanta snail nearby. Thanks for setting up this great earthcache. TFTC

This was the main reason for taking some time to explore this part of the country and to grab a cache at the same time was an added bonus
We did not see any of the Blue Ducks here but a few people had been there just before us so we were limited too seeing a Robin's and Fantails. Maybe another time!!
Also did the side trip to the caves and enjoyed them as well a well worth side trip to all that venture this far. Wish we had made a point of having torches to explore them better
Pics added soon TFTC

Logged with permission - this was a MUST do for this weekend away caching - so enjoyed reading all the info boards and wandering into the arch - which is truly impressive - not to many people around but enough that we didnt see to much bird life ( weka at the carpark, a fat looking robin and several fantails put in appearances) went a bit further to the nearby caves and we loved what we could see must remember the torches even in the day !!! thanks so much for a cache here - it was informative and we had a great reason to stop in - thanks for the cache

Last cache of the day. Was hoping to get there and back before sunset and in the end managed with ease. No traffic on the road in, (or back) and apart from one pesky weka who seem determined to chew the mudflaps of the rental car. Really nice walk though and the Oparara Archway is definitely one of NZ's hidden gems! TFTC

We are still excited about our visit, what a great place! We will definitely come back to explore the area a bit further, this weekend we just did not have enough time. But this visit is highly recommended, even if the drive to GZ is not fun at all. But the rewards are worth every meter of the ride.
We had a campervan and got the advice that we can do the road with this smaller campervan. Well, we did and it was not too bad. In summer it might be a different story with more visitors using the road.
Of course an Earthcache is always quite entertaining, you learn a lot about the geography and we enjoyed hunting for the information. So thank you for showing us this place and the permission to log the cache.

Very slow in logging this. What a beautiful area. I have been here twice before, once in the early 90,s and then again about 5 years ago but still jumped at the opportunity to come back again. We came back a second day as we ran out of time on day one. The other arches are worth a visit and organize yourself a visit to Honeycomb hill cave (from the visitor centre at Karamea