to 29, 498 (40.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 156 (12.7%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 22.4% European/Pākehā, 94.2% Māori, 2.9% Pacific peoples, 1.2% Asian, and 0.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 2.4, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 36.3% had no religion, 38.9% were Christian, 5.1% had Māori religious beliefs and 2.7% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 93 (10.4%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 228 (25.4%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $19,400, compared with $31,800 nationally. 42 people (4.7%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 315 (35.1%) people were employed full-time, 132 (14.7%) were part-time, and 78 (8.7%) were unemployed. Geography As the crow flies, Ruatoria is approximately north-northeast of Gisborne, and southwest of the East Cape Lighthouse. By road it is from Gisborne, off State Highway 35. It is at the bottom of the Waiapu Valley on the banks of the Waiapu River just downstream of where the river is formed by the joining of the Mata and Tapuaeroa Rivers. Climate Precipitation is prodigiously high — the annual average precipitation total approaches . Precipitation is heavy all year-round, yet is particularly prodigious in the austral winter months from May to September. On 7 February 1973, Ruatoria had the highest ever air temperature recorded in the North Island (), the same day the nation's highest temperature was recorded in the South Island town of Rangiora (). Industry The principal industries in the district are related to agriculture and forestry. Attempts to sink oil wells in the area in the 1920s proved unprofitable. History The original shop, bunk house and cook house in the township of Tuparoa were destroyed by fire on two occasions between 1907 and 1913. Commerce was moved inland 5 miles to the area known as The Crossroads, northeast of the present town sitting on the area of the first river plain where it drops to the present river plain where the roads went north–south and to the east. (There was a race course on land alongside the Waiapu River below The Crossroads but that was abandoned by the end of the second world war). The Crossroads too was destroyed