This chapter introduces the story of Pureora Forest Park (PFP), in the central North Island, New Zealand, by describing the extremely violent Taupo eruption of c. AD 232 and its consequences for the surrounding forests and mountains. It gives a broad-scale local geological history, detailing the origins of some important local sedimentary rocks and landforms with a bearing on the story, including limestone caverns and coal deposits. It describes the location of the future PFP on the western edge of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, and how the history of volcanic activity, together with erosion, have determined much of the character of its landscape, the radial drainage pattern and deep entrenchment of its rivers, the distribution of its vegetation, and its long isolation from human access and permanent settlement.