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DOC Land
Altitude: 359m to 698m. Gain: 456m. Loss: 390m . Gradient: 9 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
Turning off the Koranga track at the signpost, the track drops to forested river flats where a swingbridge takes you over the Koranga River. On the far side in rough pasture, a vague track sidles the opposite face climbing slightly to the next side stream. The track then disappears completely and you are left to find your own way up the cruelly steep sidecreek through rough grasslands. After about 200 vertical meters the gradient lessens and you pick up a farm track at a gate. Following the track upwards for a further 100 vertical meters, you swing an arc taking you eventually south across the head of the valley parallel to the bushedge, until a DOC triangle on the bushedge marks the start of the Tawa Hut track.
Beyond the bushedge, thing get much better. A benched pack track cuts down the valleyside through tall bush to a shoulder, then drops to the valley floor. The valleyfloor has been devastated by floods in the past, and the track is erased in many places - but still well marked. The ground is gravel and river stone left by the water, but tall trees still stand unaffected.
The valley narrows and the track returns to the northern valleyside where the benched track is cut into the steep face. The river drops away leaving us high on the face. We descend slowly towards the valley floor through majestic rimu and totora, twisted with rata vines. Opposite the confluence, a signpost marks the turnoff to to Kahunui Hut.