Waikato River

Since I first crossed the Waikato River (probably on my second day in New Zealand) I really wanted to walk along it but every time I had a free day it was cloudy, or I forgot, or something got in the way. Well the past week the weather has been GLORIOUS! It has really started to feel like summer so Saturday I had a much needed lie in then set off to the river, it took a bit longer to get there than I thought, about an hour, as some roads were closed and not knowing the area that well I had to walk the long way round - when I finally got the river I was surprised to find it all paved really well (better than most of the roads actually) and there was a memorial park too!

 Starting off my walk by trying to find my way down to the river

 Memorial park

 You can just see the plane at the end of the path

 There were lots of really nice places to just sit, soak up the sun and enjoy being next to the river

 I came across this sign after about an hour of walking and so i set off on a hunt for the promised 'Wellington ST Beach'!

 I found so many little benches along the way and I can't wait to make use of these spots

 This part of the Waikato river was beautiful and it felt like I kept stopping every 5 minutes to take pictures but I just couldn't resist it was so pretty!

 I had to take a picture of this house as I thought where it was situated was so interesting

 I can only imagine the views from the house were pretty beautiful

 Just as I was becoming sure I'd either gone the wrong way or wellington st beach didn't exist the path opening out to grass with this giant tree and....

 On my right I find the 'beach'! It was tiny, but it had a mini pier, sand, sunbathers and water so I guess that qualifies it as a beach - very cute!

 I was surprisingly tempted to take a dip since the sun was beating down 

(probably not the wisest decision to go at midday)

 The Victoria bridge on my way back from wellington beach

And finally the view from Victoria bridge  

It was a lovely walk and I'm really glad I finally got to explore the river - I know it's going to a place I visit regularly. Campus can sometimes feel a bit.. claustrophobic which seems weird as I never found the campus at Lancaster that way but the past few days I've just really needed to get away from people so escaping to the river was just what the doctor ordered!