nigelplayle

First Sight.

Less than two minutes walk from departing my vehicle, this is the very first glimpse one gets to see, as to what lays ahead for any intrepid hiker into this for...
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Less than two minutes walk from departing my vehicle, this is the very first glimpse one gets to see, as to what lays ahead for any intrepid hiker into this forest park location.
This side stream, one of many like it further upstream, is usually but a trickled flow during the summer months, but in heavy periods of rainfall, it turns into a raging torrent of water up to twelve feet high.
A few unlucky trampers have fated their death, by misjudging the flow of water after trying to traverse it, as it's being squeezed out of these narrow, steep sided channels, then feeding into the main river system.
In heavy floods, it isn't uncommon to hear the cracking like sound of boulders, the size of half a car, being tumbled along over the bedrock like tiny pebbles, as they are quickly swept away by the sheer force of the flood water carving the quickest way down stream to the plains of the Wairarapa Valley below the gorge.
There is a sublime beauty here, but one that the wise know to well respect.
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