Te Roto

Tiniroto means many lakes because there are six well known and many more little lakes in Tiniroto. Some of the most well known are Rotokaha Lake (which some people call the Tiniroto Lake), Lake Karangata, Lake Kaikore and the Waihau Lakes (known as Kent’s Lakes around here) .

Mr Kent shared some stories with us about our lakes…

“I would say, that the unique thing is the number of lakes in a small area. If you counted up all lakes there might be 10, that is counting the small ones as well as the big ones. Some of the lakes have eels, they have been taken out for food. There is also a fresh water shellfish a bit like an oyster in one of the lakes. They have been taken out for food in the past too and were often favourite meals in shearing shed. I don’t think they are very nice to eat myself. People have released trout into three of the lakes Rotokaha, Karangata and our back lake, and the main idea was for recreation.”

I also found out that there are many stories about a really special flax that grew around the lakes here and was unique to Tiniroto. This flax made very strong kete and ropes. Maori tribes would come for miles just to get this flax in the early days.

We are sketching the bird life around Lake Rotokaha.

By Ethan