Oparara Valley

Today I went to the Oparara Valley to see the Arches. The Oparara Valley is very remote and difficult to get to. There’s only one road into the area and it crosses several coastal headlands. It’s so twisty that it’s like a roller coaster. Sections are so twisty that you can drive for miles without a single straight section. On the way out today, I counted the turns over a 20 mile section. There were 64 consecutive turns, then about a mile straight, then another 146 turns. 200 turns in 20 miles!

Technically, the Arches aren’t really Arches, they are Natural Bridges because they span water. An arch spans dry ground. But since they have the signs painted and the brochures printed, we’ll just go ahead and call them Arches. The biggest, Oparara Arch, is the largest arch in the Southern Hemisphere. It also has an upper Arch high above on the downstream side. The other Arch that I visited is called Moria Gate Arch. It’s not quite as big, but still very good sized. The Arches are about a mile apart and the trails to them is through very attractive coastal rainforest, so lots of ferns. The stream that runs through the area (and through both arches) is reddish colored from the tannins in the leaves that fall into it. Other rarities in this area are Kiwi Birds (nocturnal, didn’t see) and Blue Ducks. I did see a pair of Blue Ducks, and they are even more rare than Kiwi Birds. Only 1000 pairs left.


Because the area is rainforest (they get about 18 feet of rain a year), there’s loads of moss.


You can climb down in to Moria Gate Arch. This is the view up from the entrance.


This is the view looking out one end of the Arch.


This is the view looking out the other end of the arch.


Here’s a panorama that shows the whole arch.


This is the arch from outside. See, it crosses water so it’s really a natural bridge.


Fern Heaven.


Up close and personal with a fern.


Love those Tree ferns.


The new growth on ferns are called “Fiddle Heads”.


There are lots of little feeder streams along the trails.


Tannins leaching out of leaves that fall into the stream give it the “Tea” color.


Another little feeder stream.


This is the outer “Upper Arch” at Oparira Arch.


This is a vertigo inspiring view straight up from beneath the outer arch. Trees seem to grow in every direction.


This view is from inside Oparara Arch. I don’t have a panorama showing both ends in one shot because it isn’t possible of get a proper angle for one.


This is a pair of rare Blue Ducks.


This little pond is called Mirror Tarn.


There’s an old saying about being “colder than a brass toilet seat”. I can vouch for the fact that a Stainless Steel toilet seat is just as cold!