Ōpārara Arches

A magical ride into a remote and isolated valley with large areas of prehistoric rain forest.The 6th from my archive of about 10 videos over the past two years, just as I was starting to understand the weird symptoms I was experiencing were collectively identified as ataxia. When I catch up these videos will be published more sporadically, as I spend time away cycling then return home to edit.
Karamea, a lazy colonial contraction of the original name of Kakara-taramea, was not colonised until the 1870 due to the high rainfall and isolation. The first colonial settlers were English and a small group from the Shetland Islands. They lived a mainly subsistence life until a road was connected to Westport in 1916. At that stage dairy farming, flax and timber milling started to expand. The 1929 Murchison earthquake lifted the land and permanently closed the Karamea port, but timber continued to be felled inland along McCallum's Mill Road. The easiest to access timber was felled first but progressively the tree fellers moved inland. By mid century, native forests around the country were disappearing at an alarming rate and authorities tried a variety of selective logging schemes to foster sustainable forest management, but with limited or no success. In the process, some nominated blocks of trees were clear felled in the Ōpārara Valley, and other blocks were selectively logged. By the 1970's there was increasing pressure from environmental activists. At the same time McCallum's mill became insolvent due to increasing costs of road construction and maintenance. Also about the same time the Ōpārara Arch and Gates of Moria were accidentally discovered (although Māori were aware from past times) as well as the Honeycomb cave complex. The Honeycomb cave area, a short distance from the Ōpārara Arches, is now a specially protected and restriced area. It contains the largest and most varied collection of sub fossil bird bones ever found in New Zealand. Kahurangi National Park was gazetted in 1969 but it wasn't until 2002 all logging in the valley was finally banned. Now tourism earns more money for the country than timber and is first equal to dairy.
For the ataxian:
Each persons presentation of ataxia is different. My ataxia resembles late onset spinocerebellar ataxia. It is an unwanted side effect following bilateral deep brain stimulation (VIM) for essential tremor.
Many elements of ataxia can come into play when bicycling. These can include the movement of people and traffic around me; the width and terrain of the trail; the surrounding vegetation; rain on my glasses and more. In general I deliberately pick time and weather to avoid weekends and holidays. This minimises the interaction of people and traffic on my balance and depth perception. I also avoid popular trails such as Rail Trails and Great Rides for the same reasons. Increasingly I choose isolated gravel rides as these are easier for me to manage.
This route started with a sealed road from Karamea to McCallum's Mill Road, followed by 14km of steep, winding and narrow gravel road. As luck would have it the Heaphy Track (the biggest tourist drawcard to Karamea) was closed for a few months for flood repairs. No tourist traffic through Karamea! In addition McCallum's Mill Road was closed on week days for repair and maintenance. I managed to quietly sneak past the road barriers and effectively had a private road to ride. Bliss! However the short, easy walks to the arches were not so easy for the drunken sailor. It was after this walk I decided to try trekking poles and they are now my daily walking companion.
General information and history:
www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-rec...
www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/...
Biking:
No specific biking route, but follow the road north of Karamea to McCallum's Mill Road
Camping:
bullerdc.govt.nz/recreation/c...
Music license:
Artlist 5y9S5l
Claire Kelly "Detour"
Paper Planes "Spring With You"
Chapters:
0:00 McCallum's Mill Road
0:46 Waharoa/gateway
1:49 Ōpārara Valley
2:22 Moria Gate
2:46 Ōpārara Arch
3:09 Picnic and information area
Acknowledgements:
Original art in banner and thumbnail:
"The Cyclist" by David Young - an abstract painting based on McCallum's Mill Road
I use the "Footpath" app for mapping