Rotokare Reserve

This is what most of New Zealand looked like before Europeans and invasive mammals were introduced a couple hundred years ago. This reserve is surrounded by a 10 ft tall and many mile long small mesh fence to keep out the invasive and voracious Australian possum, which eats many tons of NZ plantlife every night. This is about 20 km from Stratford. We have not exhausted all the interesting sites on Taranaki yet, and there are many more to see.

The giant ferns are everywhere, and at first glance look like palm trees. They get to be 20 feet tall and are called Ponga Trees or Black Ferns. The giant fern leaf is one of the common NZ icons -- along with the Kiwi bird and Southern Cross. Many of the sports teams are named after the Ponga: Black Ferns (rugby), White Ferns (soccer), Silver Ferns (netball).

Some kind of giant indiginous tree...... and some voracious Americans.