waikato River Trail Day 1

From Arapuni Dam the trail is exciting - it goes beside steep drop offs into a gorge, past this suspension bridge then more steep bits

...then it goes along some flat bits by the river...

...then a boardwalk, then more flat bits

..finally back close to the road to Pokaiwhenua bridge.  This mountain is where we went in the afternoon

...it is a bird sanctuary where we met about 15 kaka - this one has a caffeine habit obviously...

....it brought it's friend for more

big trees

rum and coke

The captions pretty much tell the day's story.  Very hot this morning - we needed to cool down and drink lots after the ride.  Afternoon at the bird mountain was cooler - it was very jungly in there, lots of shade.  We are now at Mangakino, camped on little island (with causeway) in Lake Maraetai.