Upper Kahuterawa Rd

Today I decided it was time I explored the top half of Kahuterawa Rd. I didn't feel like walking it from the bottom end, so parked my car on the verge at the Greens Rd corner.

It was another glorious morning. Here is the early sunshine on this typical gate.

The whole way on this walk, I was close by the Kahuterawa Stream, at varying heights above it. The sound of the stream, and the sunshine on the water, made for a very pleasant walk.
This second stream photo is taken from the Black Bridge near where the Sledge track and Back track begin.
There were a few places where I saw flax bushes in full flower: this one had a tui feeding on it.

There was a car park just before Sledge track, and it had this super-dooper long drop. Very clean , even had toilet paper, and running water in the basin. Five star. (And I put it to good use if you are wondering!)

It took about an hour and a half to get to the car park. Saw an accident when a car going into the car park collected a descending mountain biker. But fortunately he and his bike were OK. The other not-nice thing on this walk was that I saw a nearly-dead sheep by the side of the road. It needed to be put out of its misery, poor thing, but I had no way of doing anything. (It was still alive -just- when I returned downhill.) Some mountain bikers suggested ringing the SPCA, but there was no cellphone coverage up there.

I walked just the first twenty minutes of the Sledge track. Some climbing stretched up at the point where I left the track, but I had been walking two hours by then, and I had decided to do four hours all up. Maybe tomorrow! The walk back to my car was in full sunshine. Yet another glorious day, discovering the walking opportunities close to home.