Surroundings, Hawera

3km northeast of Hawera an old railroad once used for transporting logs has been reopened as a tourist attraction.

7km west of Hawera, at the mouth of the Waigongoro River, is Ohawe Beach, where the first moa bones were found, from which the skeleton of this long-extinct giant flightless bird has been reconstructed. It is believed that there were several species of moa still living in the Taranaki area in the 14th C.

23km northwest of Hawera by way of Okaiawa is the battlefield of Te Ngutu-o-te-manu (1868), in which government troops suffered heavy losses in an effort to avenge the taking of their position at Turuturu-mokai Pa.

28km southeast of Hawera is the military settlement of Patea (pop. 2000), established in the 1860s, which played an important part in the land wars. It is now a dairy- and sheep-farming region. In good weather there is a fine view from here of Mount Taranaki (Egmont).Here too is a 17m long concrete model of the Aotea tribal canoe, made in 1933 to commemorate the ancestors of the Maori tribe who once lived in this area.

Inland, in a densely forested area, is Lake Rotorangi, a 46km long reservoir on the Patea River, created in 1984 to supply water to a large hydroelectric power station. The lake attracts large numbers of anglers and sailing enthusiasts. It can be reached from Hawera, or via Eltham and Patea.