We've been really enjoying this coast so far. Looking forward to heading to the deeper southwest, looks stunning, thanks for watching all these episodes tonight. :)
Hi Leopards. When I watched this video of yours at the time you posted it, we were inspired to visit this area. (We're new to living in CHCH (from Wgtn) and had only been as far as Hokitika and Greymouth previously). So a couple of weeks ago we headed over. Stayed at the Last Resort in Karamea (which we thoroughly recommend for anyone else reading this, especially the restaurant) and had to time it for a weekend stay so we could drive on the Oparara Basin Road. We felt for you driving over that hill into Karamea. It was steep and winding enough for us without towing a caravan. And both drives in and out it was misty for us too. But was well worth it. Although the road into the arches was pretty hairy too. Hate to think what it was like before they've done all the work on it. We went early morning so did not meet anyone coming in the opposite direction heading in. What a truly amazingly natural beauty spot of the country. A real WOW experience. It was a nice surprise to find that the track to the main Oparara arch was reopened, but one of the caves further up the road was closed. Thanks again for all your videos and hope you're inspiring lots of kiwis to check out our beautiful country.🤩🤩
Hey team really grateful for your feedback, it really is a special place if people have the time to get to this area, which is quite far out the way, which probably makes it more special aye... Most of our videos are places we recommend or not lol, but I have plenty of video of places that i didn't feel to inspired to make a video of lol... Cheers for watching and glad you enjoyed the video.
it's an incredible place, crazy that the road just ends, nice that it's tarsealed all the way in now, I imagine that road has seen some incredible engineering feats over the years.
Cheers team, it's so much nicer to be able to edit from the position that is the most comfortable then be wondering if the next time I need to sneeze the Laptop screen is going to blow apart lol... This one is much fast at processing all the video files as well, so I'm pretty stoked. Thanks heaps for the contribution all those 60 people who gave made all the difference.
Hey i live in westport and work for a main contractor in Buller, McCallums Mill Road (Ōpārara Basin access road) is closed for upgrade work from Monday to Friday until 1 December 2023. The heaphy is said to re open in October, so dust off your tramping boots! Would also pay to remind people about the sandfly repellent. Also brilliant timing with the weather!
I admire the way you allow your children to explore and "do their thing". They will learn a lot by doing things for themselves. Too mant children nowadays are very restricted because of parents supposedly keeping them safe. If children don't learn to take risks they will never learn to experience the fullness of life. Well done mum and dad.
We've taught our kids a lot about being safe, knowing your limits, and we've been there with them multiple times to watch them do things. All kids need to detach from their parents at times and be kids, one day the big world is theirs to explore, so we are teaching them how to navigate their lives in a safe and healthy way.
I know right, I had no idea it was a dead end rd until we hit the West Coast, I knew you couldn't get around but didn't know it was 112km dead end road, good old New Zealand aye, continues to surprise us.
I have a fishing drone, buts it's failed me and I can not get the drone and the controller to see each other, rendering it useless... I've tried all the things, but I'm back to walking my line out and hoping I get it to the fish.
Loved it up here, I didn't realise there was all the supplies you need until I see the Petrol tanker heading up lol... a coupe of camp grounds up there as well, as a POP.
Hey guys. Love your vids. Walked the Heaphi track. Remember getting out of the car and getting eaten alive by sandflies by the time we found our Bushmans repellant in the backpack. It was stunning. Loved the isolation. Used to strip off and run and dive into all the beautiful waterholes we came across before the sandflies could get us. ❤
Yea, there is lots of exploring to be done, a few things I videod that didn't make it into the video like the Giant rimu, and plenty of other hiking trails. When do you come South John.
Those social cheeky little weka were a highlight in our travels down there (we’re WBOP). Many tourists asked if they were kiwi. Thanks for taking us to parts we haven’t had a chance to see yet. Hoping your travels can continue for another year+!🤩
Oh thanks so much, we love the Weka, although sometimes they are a bit of a pain, especially when they jump into the caravan or peck at your leg when your on your camping chair lol... This one who followed us had us laughing, didn't know if it would make the whole loop with us... Riley of course loved having the bird follow us. YES bring on more adventures, looking forward to it.
Yea man, back on the road today, beautiful sunshine, looking forward to getting the Drone out, looks like there are some awesome beaches where we are going today.
Oh sweet mate, welcome to the channel, pretty cool lifestyle what we are doing, no plans to give it anytime soon, such a chilled life, until you need to go make money again.
Such a great area, you had a lovely spot at Kōhhaihai. Definitely an area for outdoor adventures. Such a small world in regards to the house you worked on in Karamea
Thats so cool that photo you sent, I should forward it on to the family... The have some cool plans for the house, nice I got to plaster up the 3 bedroooms downstairs. Loved this spot heaps that didn't make it into the video including cockle gathering in the Estuary.
@@leopardsgowild I am based in Australia and consider Christchurch home, well to be honest anywhere in the South Island. Your South Island travels have brought back many memories of me with my family when I was a kid. NZ is truly a place of great beauty.
Another fabulous video Mike, brought back so many memories. Aren’t those Nikau trees fabulous? Make you realise we are in the middle of the Pacific 😄 unfortunately we didn’t make it to the Ōpārara Basin Arches, but is still on our list of things to do.. but lists of great biking and walks available in the area 👍
Ha! Couldn't understand why I was getting no internet. My phone had gone flat! Anyway, those nikau ferns looked amazing. You gotta love a friendly weka.
We did the drive to the caves a year ago and it was the most terrifying and exhilarating experience I’ve had. Have they improved the road heaps? I can’t believe how chilled you were about it. Loving going back down memory lane as you are travelling where we went last year. Thank you and again, love the music.
Oh awesome I think there are 3 arches in this area, there is another way that is way bigger and only 1km walk, but it was closed due to a slip. they are pretty impressive though.
Wow nice to the area again. We only did a day trip. Brian was weary of me towing the caravan. Nice to see places I got to. Thank you for the journey guys team Kawerau
Yea welcome to winter travels, so many empty places down South. I imagine we will eventually see these places start to fill up again in the next couple of months... Atleast in Sept, the days are getting longer, but the snow is still on the mountains, looking pretty.
yes definitley add it to the list... they say the sandflies are pretty bad in summer, so winter could be an ideal time, pretty quiet on the sandfly count...
I've heard it's not so great in summer, swarms and swarms of Sandflies, apparently they can be so bad that it makes people leave... Winter there were a few about but not to many, and it's also much easier to wear long pants and long sleeves to cover up from them, so it's a great winter location.
Its a long way off the main drag to spend time at, I guess that's why it's so special, and undeveloped. Soph has her heart set on hiking the Heaphy track now. She loves it up there.
yea it was so nice up here, and so warm for winter which was a nice change from some of the areas we have been in, now just waiting for the days to get longer.
Definitely going to head back to Gentle Annies (out of season) and do more exploring of the area. Good to see they have finally built extra facilities.
Yes lots of great new facilities, they are investing a lot in the place currently. They also have jumped into the winter camp saver rate, so only $115 for a powered site per week this winter for 2 adults, lots of great spots to explore from here.
Oh really, we've heard stories of people packing up and leaving because the sandflies were to intense... Winter is always a better time for avoiding bugs, which was part of our travel plans for the West coast in winter... We found the sandflies to be easily managed, a few here and there, but nothing to worry about at all.
oh this is def not one of the few remaining quiet spots there are so many around NZ just have a look at our channel... Also a quick search on RU-vid will show you how many other videos there are show casing this area.
HA HA, thanks for the lovely Emoji... Lets go team... I'm going to be interested if RU-vid picks it up with the Algorithm or if like normal things just float on by...
