Tauhara Kitea 2025: A Second Season of Growth

For the second year, the maunga welcomed everyone back for Matariki ki te Maunga, and 6,000 more plants went into the ground.

Around 600 tamariki from nine kura and kōhanga reo took part, arriving to a reo Māori welcome, planting demonstration, and safety briefing before heading up the maunga to plant 4,000 trees.

As with last year, the tamariki carried their wishes for the new year with them, written on strips of paper and planted alongside their first tree, sent on to Hiwa-i-te-rangi.

The terrain this year was steeper than before, but the plants went in quickly all the same, and the day ended with hot soup, sausages and fruit provided, well earned after a morning spent.

St Patrick's Catholic School returned too, this time bringing 800 trees they had grown themselves through the Trees for Survival programme, planted on some of the steepest ground on site.

The students could see firsthand how their trees would help hold the hillside together for years to come.

On the Saturday, after a frosty 5:30am hautapu ceremony, 200 community members turned up once more. Volunteers planted a further 2,000 trees, restoring more of a maunga that continues to hold a special place in the hearts of Taupō locals.

By the close of the two days, 6,000 plants had gone into the whenua, made possible again through the support of our ongoing partners.