Waipio Valley

		Panorama view down the Waipio Vallley from the top of the hike starting from the White Road. Where the river enters the sea is just about visible as a white spot in the far (6 mile) distance) Top is the big version (2000ish x 800) Bottom is the small version (1200 x 500 ish)

		Panorama view across and up the Waipio Valley. The 4WD road down into the valley is visible as the diagonal line in the hillside above the river mouth. That road is drops 900 feet with an average gradient of 1 in 4! Top is the big version (2000ish x 800) Bottom is the small version (1200 x 500 ish)

		Same as the previous picture, but taken the day after. The subtle difference in the colour of the river mouth (whiter in this picture) will be discussed below!! Again, top picture is the bigger one. This was the last picture my camera ever took.....

		And panorama 4 - taken from 1/2 way along the track to the top of the valley when I went there with people from the conference.

		Left: yet another view of Mauna Kea, this time from the North Right: wavy clouds.
		Left: waterfall plunging into a black-hole. Right: water flowing through a man-made tunnel cut into the hillside.
		Left: taken from the top of the valley - close up of the river mouth Right: first sign of the clouds forming
		Left: still at the top of the valley - a face in the cloud? Right: walking back from the top of the valley - clouds really closing in now.
		The Waipio valley from the look out at the start of my 2 day hike into the next valley along (the Waimanu Valley). The 2nd and 3rd panorama pictures were taken from about 1/3 the way up the far-side - you can just about see the zig-zag that is the path on the left of the two pictures.
		Left: the result of trying to descend into the valley in a 2WD!! Right: the Waipio Valley stream the day before it got exciting!
		Left: colourful ferns - it was a head down and walk walk walk sort of hike! Right: I just managed to reach the Waimanu Valley at sunset. Was shattered - and from the looks of this photo I was dazed and confused too!!
		Left: one of the nine streams I had to cross between the two valleys Right: the Waimanu Valley river - I didn't cross this one.....
		but I did have to get back over the Waipio Valley river the next day. These two photos are zooms of the 2nd and 3rd panorama photos at the top of this page. The left photo was from the first day (and the close up of it on that day is 3 rows above), whilst the 2nd photo was taken the 2nd day. My "swim" started 10 yards above the river white-water and ended about where the whitest sea wave is. My camera enjoyed the ride about as much as I did!