I walked down there last week.
From TePuia hut go upstream and cross the big swing bridge.
Walk 50m further up river along the track.
Turn left and you can spot a single chainsaw cut branch. A surprisingly large benched track goes up a terrace and climbs to the lip of the terrace but after 100m that's the end of it then down onto pretty easy flats and a cleared ground trail mostly on the true left.
The middle third of the route crosses the river a few times and the top third is on the true right. Came across just one wasp nest.
All easy going and cleared; no snowfall branches to push through; river was ankle deep only, no gorges, not even horribly slippery.
3 hr 15 min from Makino 3 wire swingbridge down to Te Puia hut.
The whole place was very dry with heaps of fallen branches and trees on the ground. With all the fires in the area recently, I'd be a bit nervous doing the trip again now until there had been a good drop of rain. Take care, don't use an open fire.
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