Lake Mangamahoe is a beautiful place to visit, surrounded by trees and bush, and with a multitude of bird life living in the environs. It combines beauty with functionality, as the lake is the water catchment area for New Plymouth’s water supply, and a power station. We stopped for a while to enjoy the views and watched as ducks and swans bobbed their heads under water to feed. Mt Egmont was still covered in a little cloud, as it is most days.
Looking across Lake Mangamahoe to Mt Egmont 
Bird life on the lake
Out and about on another country road we came across this intriguing concrete cross inscribed in Maori. A smaller plaque states “Erected by the NZ Govt”. What is the story behind this, we wondered? It turns out that on this site a party of warriors led by Rawiri Waiaua, a Puketapu chief and 25 of his people, were ambushed by a faction led by another Puketapu chief opposed to land sales, on August 3 1854, in the lead-up to the Land Wars six years later. As a result of the ambush, four of Rawiri's party died. A further two, Rawiri and his brother Paora Te Kopi, were fatally wounded. Maori themselves were divided over whether to sell land to the Pakeha. The Puketapu Feud, which erupted in the 1850s between various factions of Te Atiawa and other tribes, centred on this issue. Some of those killed in the feud are buried at the Taumata Historic Reserve, Corbett Road, and is regarded as having outstanding historic significance.
Taumata Historic Reserve
The story doesn’t end there, though. 160 years after the battle the Department of Conservation discovered that a farm driveway runs across the graves of the six Maori warriors slain in the tribal feud. The farming family had to move their driveway away from the graves.
We returned back to our POP site to discover 50 cows next door to our caravan in the yard of the milking shed, which had just arrived on the back of a large stock truck. Our hosts no longer milk cows for a living, and their farm land is leased out, so the milking sheds are no longer operational. The cows were not at all pleased to see us quite so close to where they were contained, and milled around in apprehension, lowing loudly and watching us carefully. They were not there too long, before their new owner came and walked them down the cow race to put them out on to pasture.
The wary cows are watching us carefully
There are two old Landrovers rusting away in the milking shed. Looks like they have been there for quite some time. They belong to our host’s son - perhaps he has plans to restore them at a later date.
Hiding in the milking shed
New Plymouth is a green and fertile area of the country and is dominated by Mt Egmont, also called Mt Taranaki, looking down. The legend tells that the mountain once stood in the centre of the North Island alongside the mountains of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. Taranaki fell in love with pretty Mt Pihanga and constantly battled with Ngauruhoe for her heart. After losing the final battle, Taranaki was banished to the west to his current resting place. The trail of tears he left behind over his lost love formed the Wanganui River. If you catch the mountain behind clouds, it is said that he is hiding the tears he still sheds for pretty Pihanga.
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