Mangaokewa

Park at the Mangaokewa Reserve. You will see the bridge over the river - ignore this and look for the track on your right as you face the river at the end of the car park. This is part of the Te Araroa trail, so follow signs for this.

Initially it runs through lovely native bush, with loads of bird life. At around the 2.5km mark it climbs up away from the river then comes out onto open farmland. You can see another bridge down to the left - you'll take this on the return trip. From here there are orange triangles and poles across mainly open farmland, following the river with nice views of the bush on the opposite bank. There are lots of little undulations, but its mainly very runnable when dry.

The track goes through a few small groves of trees. Eventually you come out onto the end of a gravel road (Mangaokewa N Rd). This marks the turn-around point. Obviously you can turn around anywhere before here, or could arrange a pick-up to do it one-way (though the road end is quite out of the way).

Follow the same track back until you reach the second swing bridge (just before the track heads back into bush). This time cross the bridge, and follow the river back on the other side. There is a very short detour on the right to see a pretty little waterfall. The track will bring you out at the bridge by the car park, and back to the start. If you want a shorter run, the loop up one side of the river and back down the other is about 5km.