We had a short holiday this year! We went to Karamea, the town nearly at the end of the road going north along the West Coast, and camped there for four nights. It’s a lot of work to get away like that, but it was sure nice to have a break. Most of our holidays have been road trips, sleeping a different place nearly every night, so this time was different and we all very much enjoyed staying in one place for the whole time.
This is a view of the mountains as we drove along the Buller River, towards the Lower Buller Gorge.
This piece of sculpture is in front of one of the few buildings along the road that parallels the Buller. Can you see what the mosquito is holding?
I’m always amazed at the engineering that went into this bit of the road. It’s one lane there, for obvious reasons!
We had a bicycle rack on the back of the ute we were traveling in, and it hadn’t been fastened on quite right (inexperienced person putting it on!). We stopped a couple of times to tighten it down, and during one of those stops Little Miss posed for me on top of this rock, near the end of the Lower Buller Gorge.
A view down the river at the same point.
The Karamea Bluff was astounding! We had never been up there before, so even though we were warned that there was quite a hill to get over before reaching our destination, it still took us somewhat by surprise. We stopped near the top to admire the view. This is looking south-southwest from the road.
Of course, the young people in our vehicle had to walk on the guard rail! James drove us; Mom, Esther, Mr. Sweetie, Little Miss and I were the passengers. Elijah drove his vehicle, too, with the rest of the family in it, and pulling the camper we borrowed.
See the cut in the hill? That’s where the road goes next, from where I took the two pictures above.
This was the scenery we found as we neared Karamea. It is in a flat area, surrounded on three sides by mountains and the fourth side by the sea.
I had looked online to find accommodation for us, and found the Karamea Memorial Domain Campground. The rates were actually affordable for us, and they gave us this nice, private corner between some of their gardens. We parked the camper in front, and pitched three tents back near the flax, and had ourselves a very nice place to stay.
This building was nearby. It housed everything else we needed–kitchen, lounge, toilets and showers.
The boys found the pool table first thing. Simon was overjoyed to find something he could do, after laying on the couch for two weeks! He used the rest to steady his cue stick, and was the undisputed champion of the family, with his legendary hand-eye coordination. They spent a lot of time playing there.
They even roped me into playing one evening!
We had the use of this lovely lounge whenever we wanted to relax and read or play games together.
They had a large, clean, well-equipped kitchen.
The dining room was perfect, too. We spent several afternoons playing a long, continuous game of dominoes here.
We took a portable grill with us, and cooked meals over it at least twice.
