The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 8 (November 1, 1938)
New Forest on the Plain
New Forest on the Plain.
It rained all the way from Rotorua to Waiotapu and across the Kaingaroa plateau, where the road across the great pumice plain is now shut in by the new forest of exotic pines. When I first rode across the plain, on my way to Ruatahuna, the vast bare prairie spread out as far as the eye could carry; it was without a tree, except for a few gale-beaten cabbage-trees, with frayed-out heads tilted to the north. Now the pines and gums form a dense and lofty plantation and the right angle roads give the only views. We got out of the car to lunch in the soft rain, under the lee of the pines. The new forest, fragrant of resin and eucalypt, has
warmly blanketed that lone prairie, and distinctly ameliorated the climate.
We came out into the open again when we drove down the eastern slope of the Kaingaroa to the Murupara village and the white bridge over the Rangitaiki River.