he Manawatu region is bounded in the east by the Ruahine and Tararua ranges, whose rugged terrain stands in marked contrast to the plains which lie between them and the Tasman Sea. The Manawatu River, for which the Manawatu area is named, rises in the eastern slopes of the Ruahines behind Norsewood, before turning south and flowing through the Manawatu Gorge, which divides the Ruahines from the Tararuas. From this impressive gorge, gouged from the greywacke ranges, the river then flows out onto the largest plains in the North Island.

One of the most spectacular views in the Manawatu can be had by driving up to the site of the television station at Wharite, at the southern end of the Ruahines. The road needs careful driving, but from the top all the Manawatu, southern Hawke's Bay and the northern Wairarapa is visible. This road also gives access to the Ruahine Forest Park. Alternatively, drive up the narrow road behind the Mangahao Power Station to the dam, from where tracks lead into the Tararuas.

Away from the forested ranges the Manawatu is extensively farmed, predominantly in dairy herds. The lowlands once boasted extensive flax swamps which supported a flourishing fibre industry at Foxton, but in the 1950s the swamps were drained and have now been put into pasture.

Despite the widespread clearance of forest that has taken place since Pakeha settlement began, patches of bush still remain. Keebles Bush, 1.5 kilometres south-west of Massey University in Palmerston North, has one of the best collections of native trees in the Manawatu. At 12 hectares it is too small to support many native birds, although the exotics seem to like it.

Another tree collection worth seeing is the McKean Pinetum at Rangiwahia, 24 kilometres north of Kimbolton. It is not quite as good as the tree collection at Eastwardhill in Gisbome, but worth visiting for people more used to seeing pine trees in state forests.

Of more historical interest than aesthetic appeal is a group of cabbage trees on Ngatarua Station, about 17 kilometres east of Taihape on the Rangitikei River. These trees are believed to be those mentioned by the missionary-explorer William Colenso in his account of crossing the Ruahine Range from Rangitikei in 1847. Colenso and six Maori companions had just crossed the Rangipo Desert and arrived here exhausted and hungry. From his diary:

After a while we rose from our fem couch, hunger impelled, and having broken off the tops of the branches of the large and many-headed cabbage trees (Cordyline australis) that grew close by, and which the light of the moon revealed, we made a fire and roasted the stalks of the young leaves, which though tough and bitter, served to allay our pangs. The Cordyline trees of these parts are the largest I have ever seen, they are not only high and many-branched, but bulky also in the trunk. I remember one in which a native of Patea had made a house or room, and fitted it with a door to keep his tools, baskets, etc. in; I went into it, and stood upright within it, the tree was living and healthy, I took down its exact girth, 20 feet 2 inches [6.15 metres].