Well no, not exactly. This morning we visited the Wai Ora Spa, sometimes called Hell’s Gate as this is what it was named by George Bernard Shaw in the early 1900s.
It was formed about 10,000 years ago when a large ancient lake drained. The removal of the water caused faulting or huge cracks in the rocks, allowing the escape of steam, gases and hot fluids. It is supposed to be Rotorua’s most active geothermal reserve and some of the names of the landforms reflect this: Devil’s Bath, Inferno Pools and Devil’s Cauldron.
We certainly saw much evidence of the geothermal activity in the steaming cliffs, cooking pools and mud volcano, but there was also the interesting sight of a couple of Pied stilts with three tiny offspring.
The afternoon saw us at the Buried Village, where it must have seemed like hell on June 10th 1886 when the Mount Tarawera suddenly started erupting, sending masses of material high into the night sky and hurling rocks, ash and mud onto the village below. One hundred and fifty people died as whares (houses) like this were engulfed.
We started in the museum which documents the geography/geology of the area and the history of that night and the following days. Strangely enough, our walk round the tracks of the former village, which took about an hour, was amazingly peaceful and enjoyable, like the Wairere Falls, seen here.
Jean
