Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But the real volcanic heartland runs through the centre of the North Island, from the
restless bulk of Mt Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park, northeast through the Rotorua
lake district out to NZ's most active volcano, White Island, in the Bay of Plenty. Called
the Taupo Volcanic Zone, this great 250km-long rift valley - part of a volcano chain
known as the 'Pacific Ring of Fire' - has been the seat of massive eruptions that have
left their mark on the country physically and culturally.
Most spectacular were the eruptions from the volcano that created Lake Taupo. Con-
sidered the world's most productive volcano in terms of the amount of material ejected,
Taupo last erupted 1800 years ago in a display that was the most violent anywhere on the
planet within the past 5000 years.
You can experience the aftermath of volcanic destruction on a smaller scale at Te
Wairoa (the Buried Village), near Rotorua on the shores of Lake Tarawera. Here, partly
excavated and open to the public, lie the remains of a 19th-century Maori village over-
whelmed when nearby Mt Tarawera erupted without warning. The famous Pink and
White Terraces (one of several claimants to the popular title 'eighth wonder of the
world') were destroyed overnight by the same upheaval.
But when nature sweeps the board clean with one hand she often rebuilds with the oth-
er: Waimangu Valley, born of all that geothermal violence, is the place to go to experien-
ce the hot earth up close and personal amid geysers, silica pans, bubbling mud pools and
the world's biggest hot spring; or you can wander around Rotorua's Whakarewarewa
Thermal Village, where descendants of Maori displaced by the eruption live in the
middle of steaming vents and prepare food for visitors in boiling pools.
A second by-product of movement along the tectonic plate boundary is seismic activ-
ity - earthquakes. Not for nothing has NZ been called 'the Shaky Isles'. Most quakes
only rattle the glassware, but one was indirectly responsible for creating an internation-
ally celebrated tourist attraction: in 1931, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter
scale levelled the Hawke's Bay city of Napier, causing huge damage and loss of life.
Napier was rebuilt almost entirely in the then-fashionable art-deco architectural style,
and walking its streets today you can relive its brash exuberance in what has become a
mecca for lovers of art deco.
NZ is one of the most spectacular places in the world to see geysers. Rotorua's short-
lived Waimangu geyser, formed after the Mt Tarawera eruption, was once the world's
largest, often gushing to a dizzying height of 400m.
