We were greeted by a sun shower as we pulled into the car park to the Henderson Tramline Loop. There was only one car before us, and I caught a glimpse of the trampers as they disappeared around the corner along Old Kaimai Road. In hindsight, it made sense to walk the road section first - it was the most exposed part and rain was expected later in the afternoon. The track is fairly boggy and crosses a couple of large tributaries of the Rataroa Stream (there are no bridges), so bring your gaiters and prepare to get wet feet.
The track starts at the western branch of the Henderson Tramline, with the first section linking up to the North-South Track. I had seen a great photo of another tramper sitting on some boulders in a stream the night before, and I must admit that I got a bit obsessed looking for the spot. I did find it in the end, but I was too wobbly (think a newborn lamb) during the stream crossings so I didn’t get that photo after all. As the weather wasn’t looking too good for later that afternoon, we decided to bypass the waterfall and swimming hole about 15 minutes from the car park. I will save that for the warmer months.
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