Directions

From Westport take State Highway 67 to Karamea (allow one and a half hours) – then allow another 50 minutes driving time to get you into the carpark areas of the Opararara Basin. Drive from Karamea, 10 minutes north on the Karamea-Kohaihai Road. Turn right off this road on to McCallum’s Mill Road.

Watch out for the first carpark, some 10 kilometres along this road for access to K-Road.
Warning: This reasonably well maintained gravel (shingle) road is not suitable for large motor homes or buses. To drive it safely, keep left, watch for oncoming traffic, and keep your speed down.

Oparara Basin - K-Road Mountain bike and Walking Track

Purpose-built mountain biking and walking track!

The Oparara Valley and Basin, hidden away in the warm rainforest of the northern West Coast, is a very special place.  Part of the Kahurangi National Park, it offers an amazing combination of 400 million year old granites and younger limestones, sculptured by nature into breathtaking forms, arches and land bridges…plus ancient fossils, creatures, cave formations and rare wildlife and other creatures.

Its beauty, born of a million years of isolation, is something you will carry with you for ever.  Do not miss this area.

You can walk it, bike parts of it, explore the small public access caves; or through the Oparara Valley Trust you can do guided tours through the World Heritage Honeycomb Cave Systems (see their listing on this website) or inquire at the Karamea Information Centre www.karameainfo.co.nz.

The K-Road Mountain Biking and Walking Track is constructed out of old logging tracks from the 1960s which were used for logging in Karamea until 1986 when the Timber Accord agreement stopped native timber logging on the West Coast.

The return trip is approximately 27 kilometres long – graded as an easy to medium track. K–Road is wide enough for both the keen tramper and the enthusiastic mountain biker, and features areas of cut-over bush, exotic plantations, and fast regenerating native species, with some water features and several stunning views.

This area is renowned for its wild orchids.  Walkers on this track would only want to do the first kilometre to the lookout where there are stunning views and a toilet.

There are no facilities for camping or overnighting on this track.