Another first: luxuriating in a natural pond with a heated waterfall.
The photo above was taken near lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand, which is located in the center of North Island. No shivering here — the water is heated by thermal activity and when it comes splashing over the waterfall it is close to 100 degrees, cooling off only as it joins the Waikato River a few meters from the pond.
This lovely (free) thermal pool was one of several reminders we had of the incredible energy of molten rock and how it has shaped New Zealand. Lake Taupo itself was created 70,000 years ago when a large volcano blew its top, leaving a deep caldera that has since filled with water. The Waikato river — NZ’s longest at 400+ km, drains from the lake. According to the geologists, up until 1800 years ago, the Waikato drained to the Pacific side of the North Island. But another eruption diverted the river so that it now flows out to the Tasman sea, just south of Auckland.
To the south of Taupo are the North Island’s tallest mountains: Mt. Ruapehu (2797 meters), Mt. Ngauruhoe (2291 meters) and Mt. Tongariro (1978 meters).
Ngaurohoe is a beautiful, perfect volcanic cone which Peter Jackson used as the model for Mt. Doom in The Lord of the Rings. Apparently Jackson was not allowed to film the summit of the mountain because it is sacred to the Maori. We found that we couldn’t film the summit simply because no matter how fast the wind blew the clouds, it never blew away the halo of clouds obscuring the top of the mountain!
Our first glimpse of these three lovely mountains was from the stretch of highway known as “Desert Road” that skirts the eastern side of each mountain. (We were driving up from the South on our return from Wellington). Unfortunately for us, in New Zealand, “desert” doesn’t necessarily mean lack of rain. Our drive along the Desert Road was accompanied by drizzly rain, and cloud-shrouded mountains. We could see, however, that the ground is mostly volcanic ash, too loose to hold much moisture. The scrubby bushes and wizened small trees were clear indication that although the area may get lots of rain, the ground itself is rightfully classified as “desert.”
North of Lake Taupo we encountered yet another example of thermal activity: hundreds of steaming vents in a small park called “Craters of the Moon”. This small park is near a large hydrothermal power station that uses that underground steam to generate electricity. Apparently the Craters of the Moon area wasn’t so very active, thermally speaking, until the hydrothermal power station started up in the late 50s and lowered the underground water table. The result of the lower water table was increased steam, which found cracks, crevasses and craters to belch out of in this small valley.
Also, see a video here.
Our respect for the power contained in the earth beneath our feet is growing deeper and deeper as we explore New Zealand. The only missing experience is to feel an earthquake — just a small shake would do — to remind us that it isn’t just molten rock that moves!
Green Edges 