Anatoki river from Anatoki bend.

Gus and I walked in to the bend to see what we would find, we had been considering walking further but it had taken a good 4 hours walk to get 6km to the bend and would have had to do another 2.5km before we could get to the river with easish access. After fighting our way thru supplejack vines we popped out right on this lovely 2.5m curtain drop. the toil of the walk in was soon forgotten. 1 1/2 hours later we were at the bottom of the gorge and were treated to a falcon flying over head.

Upper Takaka River.

The upper Takaka is one of the main stays of the golden bay runs, it is mostly track or road side not that either are really that accessable from the gorge, it is best described as a roadside back country run as you may as well be in the middle of nowhere. This trip started from just up the asbestos track which gives about 2 1/2hrs on the river if you know where you are. There are portages and possible portages depending on flow and group.

1st 3 pics gus in the 1st half of the run, gus n matt about to run handrail, last pic shannon in the 3rd move of handrail. this rapid is partially vizable from the Kahurangi national park sign.