The Upper Wanganui region was famous among the Maoris for the size and quality of its timber, and especially of the totara. The many large canoes used on the river right down to Wanganui Heads were usually procured near Taumarunui, at such places as the Pungapunga River, where the people were expert in bushwork and canoe making.

Some of the station names here are fragrant of the forest. Piriaka refers to the “clinging bush vine” (the place where “the woodbine twineth”). Raurimu is “red pine leaf.”