Almost opposite Wairakei are the Huka Falls, the most spectacular falls in the country. Acting as a natural barrier, they prevented eels and other fish species from reaching Lake Taupo so that when the Pakeha arrived the lake was virtually empty of fish. It certainly didn't remain so for long. By 1885 the Auckland Acclimatisation Society had released trout in the lake with phenomenal success. Early this century a fisherman took 4V2 tonnes from the lake in a single season and another took more than a tonne in a single month. At one time trout were so plentiful they were given to farmers for use as pig food.

The lake itself gained its present form in an eruption around the year AD 186. This explosion was so great that its atmospheric after-effects were mentioned in both Chinese and Roman chronicles of the time. It also destroyed much of the original dense forest that stretched over the central North Island.

The land around the lake was covered in layers of pumice thrown out by the eruptions and most of this today supports only scrub. When the Pakeha arrived the land to the north of Lake Taupo was mostly clear of larger vegetation and the Waikato missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Y. Ashwell, one of the first Pakeha to travel through this area, has left a vivid description of what he saw:

7'he country was desolate beyond description. Thousands of Thousands of acres of miserable land without Tree or Shrub. Water also was scarce. This plain extends to Taupo, Rotorua and almost to Ahuriri. I was forcibly reminded of the great and tet7ible wilderness spoken of in Scripture.

One of the more surprising features that the Pakeha explorers noted was the presence of pohutukawa here. Although this tree is usually coastal, it is thought that saplings were brought here by the Maori of old.

Except for an area where the Tonganro and Tokaanu rivers meet near Turangi, the lake is too deep to support many birds as they are unable to reach the bottom to feed. At Taupo a few mallards and swans wait for handouts, and there are shags like the little shag which fish for a living. The white-faced heron and blue reef heron turn up fairly regularly, the latter being particularly fascinating to watch as it fishes. While waiting for a fish to come within range' it holds its wings up and forward, forming a parasol, shading the water so that it can see more clearly. Then suddenly its head shoots forward to catch an unlucky fish.

One of our now breeding waterbirds, the New Zealand dabchick, is still found in reasonable numbers south of Lake Taupo and a recent immigrant, the Australian coot, now breeds on the lake. Taupo also boasts some unusual bird records, including an amokura. a red-tailed tropical bird, which was taken live here in 1936.

In those areas around Taupo that escaped the devastation of the eruption around AD186, trees have flourished. A giant totara found by a deerstalker in April 1978 in the Hauhungaroa Range west of Lake Taupo is one of the country's finest and about 2000 years old. One of the largest rimu in New Zealand is to be found several hundred metres from the northeastern boundary of the Pikiariki Ecological Area in the Purer Forest Park. Ironically, it was spared from being logged because it was too big for the local mill to handle.

Above the tree-line, higher areas not under tussock are covered with tutu, raoulia and danthonia. Tutu contains a toxin called tutin, responsible over the years for the deaths of many sheep and cattle. Horses seem to have sense enough not to eat it and goats can get away with eating just about anything but some early settlers claimed to have lost up to a quarter of their livestock from 'toot' poisoning. Humans have also fallen foul of tutu: an outbreak of honey poisoning in the 1940s was traced to honeydew from this plant and consequently the making of honey in certain areas where tutu is prevalent is illegal.

On clear days. particularly in winter, beautiful Mt Tongariro is clearly visible from most parts of the lake. Tongariro is the site of New Zealand’s first national park. created from 2600 hectares of land gifted to the nation in 1887 by the Tuwharetoa chief Te Heuheu Tukino. It is centred around three often-active volcanoes, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu, and is the most popular of our parks with over 1,000,000 visitors recorded in a year. Many of these come to ski the North Island's most popular skifields - Turoa and Whakapapa on Mt Ruapehu.

Adjacent to the Tongariro National Park is the Tongariro State Forest which is regenerating after being heavily logged of rimu, matal, totara and kahikatea in the years up to 1977. The once-splendid stands of totara have been badly affected, although other species such as kaikawaka and matai can still be found in good numbers. Blue duck or whio are found in the higher reaches of the Wanganui, the Manganuiateao and the papa rivers which dram the forest. Kiwi and morepork are both heard at night and the noisy calls of the kaka are often the first sound heard on waking - if one gets to sleep at all. After a hard night tossing sleeplessly on a lumpy tent floor I have sometimes thought that it is little wonder that the Maori likened loud-mouths to the kaka in their saying 'He kaka waha nui' - 'the kaka of the big mouth.'

The Kaimanawa Forest Park, covering almost 75,000 hectares of the Kaimanawa Ranges, lies to the south-east of Lake Taupo. Covered by snow in winter the park consists of a variety of terrain including forested river valleys, extensive scrubland and upland tussock. Beech forest covers much of the park but this gives way to podocarp forest in the north-west. Fires in the south during both the Maori and early Pakeha period destroyed some of the forest which has now been replaced by tussock, scrub and in some areas herbflelds.

In the forested areas of the Kairnanawas most of the more common bush-birds occur along with riflemen, whiteheads and long-tailed cuckoos. The whitehead and the brown creeper are favourite hosts for the cuckoo, and their disappearance from many areas has probably caused it to seek

out other birds. Tui and bellbirds react strongly to the presence of this bird and vigorously mob it.

Wild pigs, red deer and the only wild herd of sika deer in the Southern Hemisphere occur here and in the neighbouring Kaweka Forest Park, but what distinguishes the Kaimanawas is the presence of about 200 wild horses along the Moawhango River. The horses have been here for more than a century and have developed characteristics similar to those of wild horses of Britain and Europe. There is no doubt that the upland vegetation has suffered considerable damage due to the trampling and grazing by the horses. DOC has had to curb the numbers of the horses in an attempt to minimize this damage.

The Moawhango Ecological District itself is situated in an area bounded by the Tonganro volcanoes and the Kaimanawa and Kaweka Ranges to the north and the Ruahine Ranges to the cast. It is of special interest to botanists because around 150 plants, otherwise restricted to the South Island high country, are found here. There are also striking scenic similarities to parts of the South Island, such as the Matiri Plateau in north- west Nelson and parts of Central Otago. Much of the original forest which covered an area from Waipu to the Ruahines was destroyed by fire in the early Maori period some 600 years ago. As a result most of this country was in mixed scrub and tussock until converted to clover and ryegrass by settlers.

The name Moawhango can be translated variously as 'the hoarse call of the moa' or as 'many moa, and is one of the few places where this bird’s name has been preserved. Perhaps it was here in this isolated, almost hostile, environment that the last remnant populations of this bird lingered.