63 and free

Our first stop today was the “Craters of the Moon” near Lake Taupo. This is another part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone (which includes Mt. Tarawera, the eruption of which was detailed in a prior post) and is a subject unto itself.

This particular area was quite the attraction, dating from the late 1800’s. A blowhole that vented superheated water, known as Karapiti, was well known:

The big changes happened in 1958, when the Geothermal Wairakei Power Station opened. This station drastically reduced the pressure in the underground water systems. As I understand it – and I could be wrong as the exact details seem to be a bit sketchy – this drop in water volume created steam chambers just below the surface. If no natural vents were available, dangerous hydrothermal explosions would happen, creating craters. They have mitigated the risk now, but the explosions created a quite a moonscape back in the day, with steam still venting today.

Then it was onto Huka Falls on the Waikato River. Now THIS was mind-blowing. The water colour reminded us of the lagoon at Bora Bora. The gorgeous colour is due to the bubbles in the water (Huka means ‘foam’ in Maori).

The river narrows from ~100 metres wide to about 15 metres wide in this chasm, so you can imagine the velocity and violence:

The sign said the river spews out up to 220,000 litres/second, or enough water to fill 5 Olympic-sized swimming pools per minute. 😳