Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
lands were invaded by tribes from the Northland in the so-called Musket Wars. After
heavy losses on both sides, the Northlanders eventually withdrew.
During the Waikato Land War (1863-64) Te Arawa threw in its lot with the government
against its traditional Waikato enemies, gaining troop support and preventing East Coast
reinforcements getting through to support the Kingitanga movement.
With peace in the early 1870s, word spread of scenic wonders, miraculous landscapes
and watery cures for all manner of diseases. Rotorua boomed. Its main attraction was the
fabulous Pink and White Terraces, formed by volcanic silica deposits. Touted at the time
as the eighth natural wonder of the world, they were destroyed in the 1886 Mt Tarawera
eruption.
