Around 8km south of town, this verdant 4.5-hectare patch of forest is home to around 1500 varieties of native plants, which can be seen on a 20-minute walking circuit. The prize specimen is Taketakerau, a sacred 23m-tall puriri tree, with a huge circumference, estimated to be more than 2000 years old. It was once used as a burial place for the distinguished dead of the Upokorehe hapū (subtribe) of Whakatōhea; their remains have since been reinterred elsewhere.