Karamea

Karamea is a town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the northernmost settlement of any real size on the West Coast, and is located 96 kilometres north-east by road from Westport. There is no other connecting road to the town - the road north ends at the Kohaihai River some 20 kilometres from Karamea, at the south western end of the Heaphy Track. The Karamea River flows past the town to the south and into the Karamea Bight, part of the Tasman Sea. The population was 423 in the 2006 Census, a decline of 18 from 2001. The name Karamea is Maori - despite local jokes suggesting it was named by an Italian for his love - and is thought to either mean "red ochre" or be a corruption of Kakarataramea, "the smell of...