New Zealand Rainforest
"While
the
neighbouring Australia has got both temperate and tropical
rainforests,
New Zealand rainforest
is temperate."
These forests are found on the whole North Island, and on the western side of South Island.
New Zealand Rainforest. © Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy.
On the North Island there are many great national parks where you can visit rainforests.
Tongariro National Park, known for its active volcanoes, has got lowland rainforest on lower slopes, home to many native birds.
North-east of it is the Urewera National Park, which protects a large area of native rainforest with plants like kamahi, tawa, rata, rimu; and red, silver and mountaing beeck. Many native birds live here, including some rare ones like karearea, kaka, kakariki, and the North Island Brown Kiwi.
Whanganui National Park also contains fairly large rainforests - home to birds like kaka, whio, miromiro, riroriro, toutouwai, tui, piwakawaka and kereru.
Egmont National Park, home of Mt Taranaki, also contains rainforest. The lowland forests contain plants like rata and rimu while higher up there are kaikawaka, totara, kamahi and others.
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On the South Island, there are rainforests along the western coast. Kahurangi National Park contains some rainforests, home to many native bird species such as tui, bellbirds and South Island Robins. Paparoa National Park contains forests with cabbage trees, rata and Nikau Palms, and many native bird species.
Further south, Fjordland National Park contains some thick forests with some 800 years old trees, as well as podocarp and beech. And finally, Raikura National Park on Stewart Island contains some dense coastal rainforests with a very rich birdlife.
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