Flowers for Tūrangi

Built for the Tongariro power scheme

The modern town was built from 1964 for workers on the Tongariro hydro-electric power scheme; several hundred Italian tunnellers worked on the project between 1967 and 1982, and the population peaked at about 9,000 in the 1970s. Before then, nearby Tokaanu at the southern end of Lake Taupō was the main settlement and a stopover on the Grand Tour stage coach run.

Tūrangi was planned as a model town with curving streets and a pedestrian shopping centre kept apart from highway traffic. Curving streets can confuse a visiting driver, so a phone number and a clear house number on your order help. Today tourism and forestry are the mainstay, and the two Corrections prisons, Genesis Energy, the Department of Conservation and farming are the main employers.

Care for the sick and elderly happens in Taupō

Tūrangi has no hospital in our data. The nearest Health NZ hospital is Taupō Hospital at 38 Kōtare Street, Hilltop, Taupō, about 50 km north-east. We have not found a published flower rule for it, so check with the ward before sending. Healthpoint also lists no aged residential care provider in Tūrangi itself, so an older relative in care may well be in Taupō; confirm the facility's name with the family. Our Taupō page lists the rest homes there.

Hīrangi, Rongomai and Tokaanu marae; Te Aonini Road cemetery

Hīrangi Marae, with the Tūwharetoa i te Aupōuri meeting house, is in the township and is a meeting place for Ngāti Tūrangitukua and Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Rongomai Marae, east of the township, is a meeting place of Ngāti Rongomai, and Tokaanu Marae with the Puhaorangi meeting house belongs to Ngāti Kurauia. For a tangihanga, ask the whānau what is appropriate; our tangihanga guide can help.

Tūrangi Public Cemetery at 28 Te Aonini Road is owned and maintained by Taupō District Council, one of its three council cemeteries (with Taupō and Mangakino). The council has stated that its gates are open 24/7.

July on the plateau: the wettest, coldest month

Summer days in Tūrangi average about 23 °C, but in July the mean daily maximum is only 11.6 °C and it is also the wettest month, with about 154 mm of rain (some 1,505 mm a year). Avoid flowers being left outside overnight and choose an address where someone is home. Winter is also when rainbow and brown trout run up the Tongariro River from Lake Taupō to spawn, and in autumn the streets are lined with brilliant foliage.

School-leavers here come from two area schools, Tongariro School and Te Kura o Hirangi, a Māori-medium school. For neighbouring towns, see Taumarunui and the Waikato region.

Places flowers often go in Tūrangi

Hospitals

• Taupō Hospital (Taupō)

Cemeteries

• Tūrangi Public Cemetery

Put the recipient’s ward, room or the funeral director’s name on the order so the florist can find them.